Developing a research program on fatigue in children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer

Fatigue may be a universal experience for children and adolescents who are being treated for a malignancy. Sadly, it may also be the most unrecognized and thus unaddressed symptom experienced by this population. Giving adequate attention to this symptom has been stymied in part by the lack of a conceptual definition of fatigue in children and adolescents with cancer and the lack of a method to accurately measure their fatigue. This article provides a descriptive overview of a clinical research program on fatigue in children and adolescents with cancer that sought to develop conceptual and operational definitions of fatigue from the perspectives of the patient, parent, and staff. The link between these definitions and planned future fatigue intervention research is also described.