title: The Nature of Fatigue in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
abstract: In this article, we report the findings of our study on the nature of fatigue in patients diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. Using ethnoscience as a design, we conducted a series of unstructured interviews and card sorts to learn more about how people with chronic fatigue syndrome describe fatigue. Participants (N = 14) described three distinct domains: tiredness, fatigue, and exhaustion. Most participants experienced tiredness prior to diagnosis, fatigue during daily life, and exhaustion after overexertion. We also discuss participants' ability to adapt to a variety of stressors and prevent shifts to exhaustion, and relate our findings to stress theory and other current research. Primary strategies that promoted adaptation to stressors included pacing and extended rest periods. These findings can aid health care professionals in detecting impending shifts between tiredness, fatigue, and exhaustion and in improving adaptive strategies, thereby improving quality of life.
authors.affiliation: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada kolson@ualberta.ca.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Olson
authors.affiliation: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Oksana
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Zimka
authors.affiliation: University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Eleanor
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stein
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003071:Cognition; D005221:Fatigue / Q000523:psychology*; D015673:Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life
keywords: coping and adaptation; ethnoscience; fatigue / exhaustion; illness and disease, experiences; stress / distress; theory development