Purpose
The Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI) was developed to quickly measure severity of fatigue in people with cancer.
Assessment Type
Patient Reported OutcomesAdministration Mode
Paper & PencilCost
Not FreeDiagnosis/Conditions
- Multiple Sclerosis
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The Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI) was developed to quickly measure severity of fatigue in people with cancer.
9
5 minutes
Adolescent
13 - 17
yearsAdult
18 - 64
yearsElderly Adult
65 +
yearsInitially reviewed by Gail L. Widener, PT, PhD and the MS EDGE task force in the neurology section of the APTA on August 2011.
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: ANPT Outcome Measures Recommendations (EDGE)
Abbreviations: | |
HR | Highly Recommend |
R | Recommend |
LS / UR | Reasonable to use, but limited study in target group / Unable to Recommend |
NR | Not Recommended |
Recommendations based on level of care in which the assessment is taken:
Acute Care | Inpatient Rehabilitation | Skilled Nursing Facility | Outpatient Rehabilitation | Home Health | |
MS EDGE | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Recommendations based on EDSS Classification:
EDSS 0.0 – 3.5 | EDSS 4.0 – 5.5 | EDSS 6.0 – 7.5 | EDSS 8.0 – 9.5 | |
MS EDGE | NR | NR | NR | NR |
Recommendations for entry-level physical therapy education and use in research:
Students should learn to administer this tool? (Y/N) | Students should be exposed to tool? (Y/N) | Appropriate for use in intervention research studies? (Y/N) | Is additional research warranted for this tool (Y/N) | |
MS EDGE | No | No | No | No |
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!
Multiple Sclerosis:
(Mendoz TR et al, 1999)
Multiple Sclerosis:
(Mendoz TR et al, 1999)
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
We have reviewed more than 500 instruments for use with a number of diagnoses including stroke, spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury among several others.