Paediatric short fatigue questionnaire, a 4-item fatigue questionnaire for children

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Health
• Psychometrics
• Clinical Assessment

Background:

• Subjective fatigue is a common complaint in children, impacting quality of life.
• Accurate assessment of pediatric fatigue is crucial for diagnosis and management.
• Existing fatigue questionnaires can be lengthy, posing challenges in clinical settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate the pediatric Short Fatigue Questionnaire (pSFQ) as a measure of subjective fatigue in children.
• To evaluate the psychometric properties of the pSFQ.
• To establish a cut-off score for identifying severe fatigue in pediatric populations.

Main Methods:

• The pSFQ, comprising 4 items from the Checklist Individual Strength-8 (CIS-8), was assessed using data from healthy children, children with chronic fatigue syndrome, and children with chronic disease (ages 12-18).
• Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed to confirm the construct validity of the pSFQ.
• Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha, and construct validity was assessed via Spearman's correlations. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis determined the cut-off score for severe fatigue.

Main Results:

• CFA confirmed a one-factor model for subjective fatigue within the pSFQ.
• The pSFQ demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha: 0.84-0.94) and strong construct validity (-0.76 to -0.87).
• ROC analysis identified a cut-off score of ≥21 for severe fatigue, with high sensitivity (93.9%) and specificity (96.2%).

Conclusions:

• The pSFQ is a practical and reliable screening instrument for severe fatigue in children, regardless of chronic disease status.
• The pSFQ effectively reduces questionnaire length by 50% compared to the CIS-8.
• This validated tool aids in the efficient identification of severe fatigue in pediatric patients.