Citation

Lerdal A, Wahl A, Rustøen T, Hanestad BR, Moum T. Scand. J. Public Health 2005; 33(2): 123-130.

Affiliation

Department of Behavioral Science in Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Associations of Public Health in the Nordic Countries Regions, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1080/14034940410028406

PMID

15823973

Abstract

 OBJECTIVE: A study was undertaken to test the psychometric properties of the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), and to explore the relationship between fatigue and sociodemographic variables in the general population. METHOD: A national representative sample of 1893 respondents was randomly selected from a pool of 4,000 Norwegians aged 19-81 years. A mailed questionnaire that included the FSS was used to measure fatigue severity. RESULTS: The FSS showed satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.88). The prevalence of high fatigue (FSS score > = 5) was 23.1% in the total sample. More women (26.2%) than men (19.8%) experienced high fatigue (p = 0.004). Respondents with chronic illness (more than six months) reported a higher mean (M = 4.69, SD = 1.35) than the rest of the sample (M = 3.67, SD = 1.17) (p<0.001). An inverse correlation was found between fatigue and level of formal education (r = 0.20, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The psychometric properties of the Norwegian version of FSS were satisfactory. To avoid over-diagnosing people for high level of fatigue, the threshold for high fatigue probably should be 5 on the FSS scale instead of 4 as had been suggested originally, but further validation of the cut-off point is needed.

Language: en