Cancer treatment-related fatigue (CTRF), or overwhelming tiredness unrelieved by rest, is a distressing symptom affecting up to 100% of patients. Relationships between CTRF intensity (i.e. perceived degree or strength of CTRF) and CTRF distress (i.e. mental anguish related to CTRF) are not direct; some experiencing high levels of CTRF intensity experience little distress; conversely, low-level CTRF intensity may result in high levels of distress. CTRF representation (i.e. beliefs, thoughts and associated emotions of CTRF) may relate to development or absence of CTRF distress. Testing models of CTRF experience (i.e. CTRF intensity and distress) including representation requires a valid, reliable measure of CTRF representation. The purpose of this research is to test a measure of CTRF representation adapted from existing measures of illness representation. Four content area experts examined content validity. Eligible patients are: 1) receiving > 3 weeks of radiation treatment, 2) not receiving brain radiation, 3) without known brain metastases. Data collection: face-to-face clinic interview 4 weeks after treatment. Projected sample size: 100 patients – preliminary results (N~40) will be reported here. The 96-item CTRFRep has subscales reflecting Identity (N=19), Timeline (N=10), Consequences (N=11), Controllability (N=20), Coherence (N=5), Emotional Representation (N=8) and Cause (N=23). Individual items will be evaluated for missing data and related psychometric issues. Convergent and discriminant construct validity will be established by correlating with the POMS-sf_Fatigue, Multi-dimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20), Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D), Positive And Negative Affect (PANAS), and the Cancer Related Fatigue Distress (CRFDS) scales. Internal consistency reliability will be calculated as appropriate. Planned exploratory factor analysis will determine the factor structure of the overall scale. A reliable and valid measure of CTRF Representation can be used to test models of the CTRF experience whereby CTRF representation theoretically mediates the relationship between CTRF intensity and CTRF distress.
Session #1223 - Graduate Student Poster Session
The 29th Annual MNRS Research Conference (April 1-4, 2005)