Affiliations: [a] School of Physical Therapy, Texas Woman’s University, Dallas, TX, USA
| [b] Department of Exercise Science, Physical Therapy Program, University of South Carolina, Columbus, SC, USA
| [c] Department of Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sport Studies, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
Correspondence:
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Address for correspondence: Hui-Ting Goh, PT, PhD, School of Physical Therapy, Texas Woman’s University, 5500 Southwestern Medical Avenue, Dallas 75235, TX, USA. E-mail: hgoh1@twu.edu.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:Post-stroke fatigue can manifest as both physical and mental fatigue. The Fatigue Scale for Motor and Cognitive Functions (FSMC) evaluates fatigue on the motor and cognitive domains separately, however, the psychometric properties of this measure in stroke have not been reported. OBJECTIVE:To determine the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and concurrent validity of the FSMC in chronic stroke. METHODS:Thirty-four participants with chronic stroke (55.26±12.27 years of age; 59.53±89.21 months post-stroke) completed the FSMC on two separate visits. Internal consistency and reliability of the FSMC were examined using Cronbach’s alpha and two-way mixed effects intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), respectively. Correlation between the FSMC and the Fatigue Severity Scale and Visual Analog Scale-Fatigue was used to assess concurrent validity. RESULTS:Internal consistency was excellent (Cronbach’s alpha > 0.9) and reliability was moderate to good (ICC = 0.72–0.81) for all FSMC scores. The FSMC demonstrated moderate to good concurrent validity with the Fatigue Severity Scale (ρ= 0.66–0.72) but only fair concurrent validity with the Visual Analog Scale-Fatigue (ρ= 0.37–0.44). CONCLUSION:The FSMC is a valid and reliable measure of post-stroke fatigue and may be a useful tool to examine physical fatigue and cognitive fatigue in chronic stroke.
