Kunkel, Kevin

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to establish the test-retest reliability and concurrent validity of the Modified Brief Fatigue Inventory (MBFI) and the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy–Fatigue (FACIT-Fatigue) scale in a population of patients treated for cancers of the head and neck. Methods: The MBFI and the FACIT-Fatigue were administered to 65 participants in a tertiary medical center with a diagnosis of head and neck cancer (HNC), skin cancer, and thyroid cancer who had undergone surgery within the past 3 months and/or were currently receiving radiation and/or chemotherapy treatments. Test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and concurrent validity are reported. Results: For the HNC group, the MBFI had an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.825 (0.68-0.91) and an internal consistency of 0.828. The FACIT-Fatigue ICC was 0.866 (0.75-0.93) and internal consistency was 0.874. The MBFI ICC for the skin and thyroid cancer groups was 0.932 (0.76-0.98) and 0.880 (0.60-0.97), and internal consistency of 0.929 and 0.880, respectively. The FACIT-Fatigue ICC for the skin and thyroid cancer groups was 0.945 (0.81-0.99) and 0.941 (0.81-0.98), and the internal consistency was 0.945 and 0.941, respectively. The Spearman ρ correlation coefficient for concurrent validity of the MBFI and FACIT-Fatigue was −0.871 for HNC, −0.838 for skin cancer, and −0.903 for thyroid cancer. Conclusions: The MBFI and the FACIT-Fatigue demonstrate good test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and concurrent validity for all subgroups. The FACIT-Fatigue demonstrates a slight advantage over the MBFI with respect to test-retest reliability and internal consistency.