Brief Fatigue Inventory (Index)

Instrument Reviewers

Initially reviewed by Gail L. Widener, PT, PhD and the MS EDGE task force in the neurology section of the APTA on August 2011.

Professional Association Recommendation

Recommendations for use of the instrument from the Neurology Section of the American Physical Therapy Association’s Multiple Sclerosis Taskforce (MSEDGE), Parkinson’s Taskforce (PD EDGE), Spinal Cord Injury Taskforce (PD EDGE), Stroke Taskforce (StrokEDGE), Traumatic Brain Injury Taskforce (TBI EDGE), and Vestibular Taskforce (Vestibular EDGE) are listed below. These recommendations were developed by a panel of research and clinical experts using a modified Delphi process.

For detailed information about how recommendations were made, please visit: http://www.neuropt.org/go/healthcare-professionals/neurology-section-outcome-measures-recommendations

Recommendations based on level of care in which the assessment is taken:

Recommendations based on EDSS Classification:

Recommendations for entry-level physical therapy education and use in research:

Considerations

Average score of the items completed. Test can be scored with as few as 5 out of 9 questions answered. Do not have any test-retest reliability data; has not been validated or tested in pwMS.

Do you see an error or have a suggestion for this instrument summary? Please e-mail us!

Bibliography

Guirimand, F., Buyck, J. F., et al. (2010). "Cancer-Related Symptom Assessment in France: Validation of the French MD Anderson Symptom Inventory." Journal of pain and symptom management 39(4): 721-733.

Kim, B. R., Chun, M. H., et al. (2012). "Fatigue assessment and rehabilitation outcomes in patients with brain tumors." Support Care Cancer 20(4): 805-812. Find it on PubMed

Mead, G., Lynch, J., et al. (2007). "Evaluation of fatigue scales in stroke patients." Stroke 38(7): 2090-2095. Find it on PubMed

Mendoza, T. R., Wang, X. S., et al. (1999). "The rapid assessment of fatigue severity in cancer patients: use of the Brief Fatigue Inventory." Cancer 85(5): 1186-1196. Find it on PubMed

Murphy, S. L., Lyden, A. K., et al. (2010). "Effects of a tailored activity pacing intervention on pain and fatigue for adults with osteoarthritis." Am J Occup Ther 64(6): 869-876. Find it on PubMed

Okuyama, T., Wang, X. S., et al. (2003). "Validation study of the Japanese version of the brief fatigue inventory." J Pain Symptom Manage 25(2): 106-117. Find it on PubMed

Radbruch, L., Sabatowski, R., et al. (2003). "Validation of the German version of the brief fatigue inventory." J Pain Symptom Manage 25(5): 449-458. Find it on PubMed

Wang, X. S., Hao, X. S., et al. (2004). "Validation study of the Chinese version of the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI-C)." J Pain Symptom Manage 27(4): 322-332. Find it on PubMed

Whitehead, L. (2009). "The measurement of fatigue in chronic illness: a systematic review of unidimensional and multidimensional fatigue measures." J Pain Symptom Manage 37(1): 107-128. Find it on PubMed

Wolfe, F. (2004). "Fatigue assessments in rheumatoid arthritis: comparative performance of visual analog scales and longer fatigue questionnaires in 7760 patients." J Rheumatol 31(10): 1896-1902. Find it on PubMed

Yun, Y. H., Wang, X. S., et al. (2005). "Validation study of the korean version of the brief fatigue inventory." J Pain Symptom Manage 29(2): 165-172. Find it on PubMed