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Wood Mental Fatigue Inventory
Availability
Please visit this website for more information about the instrument: Wood Mental Fatigue Inventory
Classification
Supplemental: Myalgic encephalomyelitis/Chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)
Short Description of Instrument
Construct measured: Mental Fatigue/Cognitive Difficulty
Generic vs. disease specific: Generic
Means of administration: Paper and pencil
Intended respondent: Patient
# of items: 9
# of subscales and names of sub-scales: N/A
# of items per sub-scale: N/A
Comments
This measure has been assessed in subjects 16 and older, but used by Dr. Rowe in children as young as 12 years. This measure has been applied in the following populations: CFS patients 16 and older, muscle disease, healthy patients, and younger adolescents with CFS.
Scoring
Participants rate how much they have been bothered by 9 mental fatigue items in the last month using a score from 0 (Not at all), 1 (A little), 2 (Somewhat), 3 (Quite a lot), 4 (Very much). The score is summed. Higher scores indicate worse mental fatigue. Scores range from 0 – 36.
Rationale/Justification
Strengths/Weaknesses:
 
ME/CFS-Specific:
 
Advantages: Brief, easy to complete, seems responsive to clinical change in Dr. Rowe's cohort studies (although data have not been published), and seems to correlate with other mental fatigue scales like the Peds QL Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (again, based on Dr. Rowe's cohort study data which have not been formally analysed or published).
 
Limitations: None identified.
 
Psychometric Properties:
Cronbach's alpha 0.85 in non-clinical subjects, 0.91 in clinical subjects. Test-retest reliability was good (pearson's r = 0.887). It discriminates between CFS and muscular disease patients, and between those with current CFS versus those with recovered CFS. Scores for depressed patients and those with CFS without depression did not differ, indicating similar mental fatigue symptoms. Construct validity, discrimination of different clinical populations with or without mental fatigue.
 
Administration: 1 minute
References
Bentall RP, Wood GC, Marrinan T, Deans C, Edwards RH. A brief mental fatigue questionnaire. Br J Clin Psychol. 1993;32(Pt3):375-379.
 
Bou-Holaigah I, Rowe PC, Kan J, Calkins H. Relationship between neurally mediated hypotension and the chronic fatigue syndrome. JAMA. 1995;274(12):961-967.
 
Rowe PC, Calkins H, DeBusk K, McKenzie R, Anand R, Sharma G, Cuccherini BA, Soto N, Hohman P, Snader S, Lucas KE, Wolff M, Straus SE. Fludrocortisone acetate to treat neurally mediated hypotension in chronic fatigue syndrome: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2001;285(1):52-59.
 
Rowe PC, Marden CL, Flaherty MA, Jasion SE, Cranston EM, Johns AS, Fan J, Fontaine KR, Violand RL. Impaired range of motion of limbs and spine in chronic fatigue syndrome. J Pediatr. 2014;165(2):360-366. [Pediatric CFS study]

 

Document last updated July 2019
Recommended Instrument for
ME/CFS