The Brain Injury Fatigue Scale: Self versus other/relative ratings
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Brain Injury Fatigue Scale: Self versus other/relative ratings of fatigue
IRAS ID
302834
Contact name
Rebecca Di Somma
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Hull
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 4 months, 1 days
Research summary
Research Summary
Fatigue is found to be common in patients with an acquired brain injury (ABI) or neurological condition and causes several difficulties in day-to-day life. Clinicians use fatigue scales in the assessment and treatment of fatigue. Lack of insight/awareness of ones difficulties is common in individuals with damage to the frontal lobes of the brain, which often occurs in a range of ABIs (such as Traumatic Brain Injury and Stroke) and some neurological conditions. When patients lack insight into their difficulties this then impacts on rehabilitation and recovery as they can fail to appreciate their difficulties and therefore are not motivated or responsive to suggested treatments/strategies. Due to this lack of insight, self-report rating scales usually include both a self and other/relative rating, which is used to gather information of the patients difficulties from the person themselves and someone that knows them well. Therefore, when there is a situation where there is a difference between the self and other/relative ratings (particularly when the patient scores low and the relative scores high) this can be due to the patient lacking insight into their difficulties. The Brain Injury Fatigue Scale (BIFS) is an unpublished measure of fatigue developed by Quinn, Jones, Fokias and Moss (2004). The BIFS contains self and other/relative rating scales and, although currently unpublished, is used in clinical practice to measure fatigue in individuals who have sustained an ABI/neurological condition. This study is therefore part of a larger project to validate and explore the BIFS. Within this larger project another study will be exploring the psychometric properties of the BIFS itself, whereas this study will be investigating factors that affect the difference between the self and other/relative ratings of the BIFS and investigate if this is affected by lack of insight, mood or length of time post injury/diagnosis.
Summary of Results
: It was found that 63.64% of patients with a brain injury/neurological condition rated their fatigue within the same clinical cut off category as their proxies ratings. It was also found that impaired self awareness and mood did not predict BIFS-Discrepancy scores. These findings show a moderate level of agreement between patient and proxy BIFS ratings; however they also emphasise the importance of using proxy rating scales within this area, which has not previously been explored. These results were preliminary findings which require replication with a larger sample
REC name
South West - Central Bristol Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/SW/0171
Date of REC Opinion
10 Dec 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion