title: Test-retest reliability, internal consistency and concurrent validity of Fatigue Severity Scale in measuring post-stroke fatigue.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Post-stroke fatigue (PSF) is a common complaint among stroke survivors and has significant impacts on recovery and quality of life. Limited tools that measure fatigue have been validated in stroke.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) in patients with stroke.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Teaching hospital outpatient setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty healthy controls (mean age 61.1±7.4 years; 22 males) and 50 patients with stroke (mean age 63.6±10.3 years; 34 males).
  
  
  METHODS
  FSS was administered twice approximately a week apart through face-to-face interview. In addition, we measured fatigue with Visual Analogue Scale - Fatigue (VAS-F) and Short-Form Health Survey 36 version 2 vitality scale. We used Cronbach alpha to determine internal consistency of FSS. Reliability and validity of FSS were determined by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Spearman correlation coefficient (r).
  
  
  RESULTS
  FSS showed excellent internal consistency for both stroke and healthy groups (Cronbach's alpha >0.90). FSS had excellent test-retest reliability for stroke patients and healthy controls (ICC=0.93 and ICC=0.90, respectively). The scale demonstrated good concurrent validity with VAS-Fatigue (all r>.60) and a moderate validity with the SF36-vitality scale. Furthermore, FSS was sensitive to distinguish fatigue in stroke from the healthy controls (P<0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FSS has excellent internal consistency, test-retest reliability and good concurrent validity with VAS-F for both groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides evidence that FSS is a reliable and valid tool to measure post-stroke fatigue and is readily to be used in clinical settings.
authors: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors: Mohanasuntharaam
authors: M
authors: Nadarajah
authors: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors: Mazlina
authors: M
authors: Mazlan
authors: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors: Lydia
authors: L
authors: Abdul-Latif
authors: The School of Physical Therapy, Texas Woman's University, Dallas, TX, USA - hgoh1@twu.edu.
authors: Hui-Ting
authors: HT
authors: Goh
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000379:methods; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015673:Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011379:Prognosis; D011788:Quality of Life; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation / Q000379:methods*