title: Development and validation of the daily fatigue cancer scale (DFCS): Single-item questions for clinical practice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Cancer-Related Fatigue (CRF), subjective symptom, is considered the most prevalent and disabling in cancer. To help caregivers better understand it, we developed and evaluated the psychometric properties of a visual analog scale to assess daily CRF.
  
  
  METHODS
  In our qualitative study, we conducted interviews with caregivers, patients and scientists (N = 30) to generate items and select the scale's format. We then administered the final scale to a sample of 104 patients hospitalized for cancer surgery. In our quantitative study, we evaluated psychometric items with standardized questionnaires to compare and identify the construct validity of our fatigue scale. Because clinicians need a cutoff to diagnose fatigue in daily care, we also analyzed the scale's sensitivity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Correlations evidenced good construct validity for our scale, with r = 0.886 (p > 0.01), confirming that both physical fatigue and psychological fatigue (r = 0.768) were effectively measured. The Receiver Operating Curve (ROC) showed good sensitivity and specificity (>0.80), giving clinicians a threshold to identify tired patients, with only a 3% chance of misdiagnosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Daily Fatigue Cancer Scale is a good tool to detect patient fatigue and improve patient care.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Epsylon EA4556 Dynamics of Human Abilities and Health Behaviors, University of Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France; Epidaure, Prevention Department, Montpellier Cancer Institute, Montpellier, France. Electronic address: louise.baussard@icm.unicancer.fr.
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Baussard
authors.affiliation: Unit of Supportive Care (UTEP), Montpellier Cancer Institute, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stoebner-Delbarre
authors.affiliation: Care Management, Montpellier Cancer Institute, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bonnabel
authors.affiliation: Unit of Supportive Care (UTEP), Montpellier Cancer Institute, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Marie-Eve
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Huteau
authors.affiliation: Care Management, Montpellier Cancer Institute, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Aurélie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gastou
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Epsylon EA4556 Dynamics of Human Abilities and Health Behaviors, University of Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France; Epidaure, Prevention Department, Montpellier Cancer Institute, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cousson-Gélie
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005221:Fatigue / Q000145:classification* / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000145:classification*; D011594:Psychometrics; D036301:Qualitative Research; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Assessment; Cancer-related fatigue; Clinical practice; Instrumental study; Visual-analog-scale