| Name of the Instrument/Tool | Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue (MAF) |
| First Description |
Tack B. Tack B. Dimensions and correlates of fatigue in older adults with rheumatoid arthritis [dissertation]. San Francisco: University of California; 1991. |
| Year | 1991 |
| Domains | |
| Concept of constructs | Fatigue |
| Population/Disease | Disease specific |
| Originally developed for | Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) |
| Other rheumatic diseases where can be applied (only if validated) |
Fibromyalgia (FM), Osteoarthritis (OA), Osteoporosis (OP), Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) |
| Additional population with no rheumatic diseases |
Yes other long-term conditions such as human immunodeficiency virus, multiple sclerosis, and cancer; healthy controls |
| Language: Originally published in | English |
| Available in Language | Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish |
| REFERENCE IDENTIFICATION | |
| Author/s | Tack B |
| Title | Dimensions and correlates of fatigue in older adults with rheumatoid arthritis |
| Journal | Dissertation; University of California; San Francisco |
| Year | 1991 |
| Vol | --- |
| Num | --- |
| Pages | --- |
| Country | United States of America |
| Language | English |
| Other references of interest | |
| Link | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7791155 |
| Brief Description |
Belza BL. Comparison of self-reported fatigue in rheumatoid arthritis and controls. J Rheumatol 1995;22:639–43 (first description published in a journal) |
| Link | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9179174 |
| Brief Description |
Neuberger GB, Press AN, Lindsley HB, Hinton R, Cagle PE, Carlson K, et al. Effects of exercise on fatigue, aerobic fitness, and disease activity measures in persons with rheumatoid arthritis. Res Nurs Health 1997;20:195–204. |
| Link | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15468350 |
| Brief Description |
Wolfe F. Fatigue assessments in rheumatoid arthritis: comparative performance of visual analog scales and longer fatigue questionnaires in 7,760 patients. J Rheumatol 2004;31:1896–902. |
| Instrument/Tool Translations References | |
| Link | http://www.mapi-research.fr |
| Brief Description |
To gain access to and information about a translated version MAPI Research Institut may be contacted at their website at http://www.mapi-research.fr |
| DEVELOPER CONTACT INFORMATION | |
| Correspondence to | Basia Belza |
| basiab@uw.edu | |
| Address | Department of Biobehavorial Nursing and Health Systems, Box 357266, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-7266 |
| Website | http://apps.nursing.uw.edu/maf/index.htm |
| Available | There is no charge for individual use of the MAF. Colleagues in industry who would like to use the MAF may be charged a nominal fee. The MAF is copyrighted by Basia Belza. |
| Links | --- |
| DESCRIPTION OF THE INSTRUMENT | |
| Type Of Measure | Composite Index, Questionnaire, Scale |
| Brief Description |
The MAF was originally developed in 1991 to measure multiple dimensions of fatigue in adults with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and revised in 1995 by changing the visual analogue scales (VAS) with numerical rating scales (NRS). The MAF is a revision of the Piper Fatigue Scale, a 41-item measure of fatigue developed for research purposes and tested with oncology patients (Piper, Lindsey, Paul, & Weller, 1989). The MAF covers 4 dimensions of fatigue: severity, distress, interference in activities of daily living (doing chores, cooking, bathing, dressing, working, visiting, sexual activity, leisure, shopping, walking and exercising), and frequency and change during the previous week. |
| Number of Items | 16 |
| Range | 0-50 |
| Responses options/scale |
Yes Numerical rating scale (1 - 10) for items 1, and 4 - 14 ( 1 = not at all, 10 = a great deal), item 2 (1 = mild to 10 = severe), item 3 ( 1 = no distress, 10 = a great deal of distress). Categorical responses (1 - 4) for Timing items 15 and 16. |
| Developed for | Not specified |
| PRACTICAL APPLICATION | |
| Method of administration | Self-administered |
| Recommendations to score |
The first 15 items provide a global score, Global Fatigue Index (GFI). The 16th question (“To what degree has your fatigue changed during the past week?”) does not contribute to the GFI. If the respondent indicates “No fatigue at all” for item 1, all remaining items should be scored as 0. Items 1–3 are summed, items 4–14 are averaged but should not be scored where the respondent indicates that they do not do an activity “For reasons other than fatigue,” and item 15 is transformed into a 0–10 scale by multiplying the score by 2.5. The GFI is then calculated by adding these 3 components (sum of items 1–3, average of items 4–14, and transformed item 15). Item 16 (change) does not contribute to the GFI, and is scored 1–4. |
| Score Interpretation | A higher score indicates more severe fatigue, fatigue distress, or impact on activities of daily living. |
| Cut-off points | --- |
| Cut-off points applied to | --- |
| Smallest detectable change if described | --- |
| Smallest detectable change applied to | --- |
| Completion time by the patient | 0 minutes |
| Scoring time by the assessor | 0 minutes |
| Training to score | Not necessary |
| Strengths | Useful in clinical practice & research |
| Limitations | Copyrighted |
| OTHER COMMENTS | |
| Other Comments | --- |