title: A psychometric study of the multidimensional fatigue inventory to assess fatigue in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
abstract: Fatigue is frequently reported by patients with mental illness. The multidimensional fatigue inventory (MFI-20) is a self-assessment instrument with 20 items including five dimensions of fatigue. The purpose of this study was to examine the test-retest reliability, internal consistency, convergent construct validity and feasibility of using MFI-20 in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Patients completed two self-assessment instruments, MFI-20 (n = 93) and Visual Analogue Scale (n = 79), twice within 1 week ± 2 days. Fifty-three patients also rated the feasibility of responding to the MFI-20 with a Likert scale. The test-retest reliability and validity were analysed by using Spearman's correlations and internal consistency by calculating Cronbach's α. The test-retest showed a correlation between .66 and .91 for all subscales of MFI. The internal consistency was .92. The analysis of convergent construct validity showed a correlation of .68 (time 1) and .77 (time 2). No item was systematically identified as being difficult to answer.
authors: Department of Health Science Centre, Faculty of Medicine at Lund University, P.O. Box 157, 221 00, Lund, Sweden, lena.hedlund@med.lu.se.
authors: Lena
authors: L
authors: Hedlund
authors: Amanda Lundvik
authors: AL
authors: Gyllensten
authors: Lars
authors: L
authors: Hansson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D059445:Anhedonia; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005221:Fatigue / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D064232:Visual Analog Scale