Construction and validation of the fatigue impact and severity self-assessment for youth and young adults with cerebral palsy.
OBJECTIVE
The Fatigue Impact and Severity Self-Assessment (FISSA) was created to assess the impact, severity, and self-management of fatigue for individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) aged 14-31 years.


METHODS
Items were generated from a review of measures and interviews with individuals with CP. Focus groups with health-care professionals were used for item reduction. A mailed survey was conducted (n=163/367) to assess the factor structure, known-groups validity, and test-retest reliability.


RESULTS
The final measure contained 31 items in two factors and discriminated between individuals expected to have different levels of fatigue. Individuals with more functional abilities reported less fatigue (p < 0.002) and those with higher pain reported higher fatigue (p < 0.001). The FISSA was shown to have adequate test-retest reliability, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)(3,1)=0.74 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.53-0.87).


CONCLUSIONS
The FISSA valid and reliable for individuals with CP. It allows for identification of the activities that may be compromised by fatigue to enhance collaborative goal setting and intervention planning.
a Faculty of Kinesiology , University of Calgary , Calgary , Alberta , Canada.
Laura K
LK
Brunton
b School of Physical Therapy , The University of Western Ontario , London , Ontario , Canada.
Doreen J
DJ
Bartlett
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005221:Fatigue / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012647:Self-Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards
Adolescents; cerebral palsy; fatigue; psychometrics; young adults