title: Development of the Mental Clutter Scale.
abstract: Mental fog is a core symptom of fibromyalgia. Its definition and measurement are central to an understanding of fibromyalgia-related cognitive disability. The Mental Clutter Scale was designed to measure mental fogginess. In an exploratory factor analysis of two different samples (n=128 and n=170), cognitive symptoms of fibromyalgia loaded on 2 dimensions: cognition and mental clarity. The mental clarity factor comprised 8 items with factor loadings greater than .60 and was named the Mental Clutter Scale. The factor stability of the new scale was good, internal consistency was .95, and test-retest reliability over a median of 5 days was .92. The 8-item scale is a quick measure of mental fog that provides clinicians with information about cognitive functioning in fibromyalgia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Sciences, Rush Medical College, USA. frankleavitt@sbcglobal.net
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Leavitt
authors.forename: Robert S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Katz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D001364:Awareness; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005356:Fibromyalgia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results