A validity and reliability study of the Turkish Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue (MAF) scale in chronic musculoskeletal physical therapy patients

Abstract

Background and Objectives:

Fatigue is primarily a subjective experience and self-report is the most common approach used to measure fatigue. Numerous self-report instruments have been developed to measure fatigue. Unfortunately, each of these measures was tailored for the situation in which fatigue was studied. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the reliability and validity of the Turkish language version of the Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue Scale (MAF-T) in chronic musculoskeletal physical therapy patients.

Material and Methods:

The MAF-T was supplied by the MAPI Research Institute, and 69 chronic musculoskeletal physical therapy patients were evaluated. To validate MAF-T, all participants completed the MAF-T and Short Form–36 (SF–36). The MAF was administered again one week later to assess test-retest reliability.

Results:

Using Cronbach α, the internal consistency reliability of the MAF-T was 0.90, the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) reliability was 0.96. Item-discriminant validity was calculated between $\mathit{r}=0.14$ and $\mathit{r}=0.82$ . The correlations between the total scores of the MAF-T scale and the subscale scores of SF–36 were negative and significant ( $\mathit{p}\mathrm{<}0.01$ ).

Conclusion:

The MAF-T is a valid and reliable scale for assessing fatigue in chronic musculoskeletal physical therapy patients.