| Name of the Instrument/Tool | Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20) |
| First Description |
Smets E, Garssen B, Bonke Bd, De Haes J. The Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI) psychometric qualities of an instrument to assess fatigue. Journal of psychosomatic research. 1995;39(3):315-25. |
| Year | 1995 |
| Domains | |
| Concept of constructs | Fatigue, Functional status |
| Population/Disease | Generic |
| Originally developed for | --- |
| Other rheumatic diseases where can be applied (only if validated) |
Fibromyalgia (FM), Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Ankylosing spondylitis (AS), ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) |
| Additional population with no rheumatic diseases |
Yes cancer, liver disease |
| Language: Originally published in | English |
| Available in Language | Danish, Croatian, Chinese, Norwegian, Finnish, French, Romanian, Korean, Spanish, Swedish, Czech, Italian, German, Polish, Lithuanian, Dutch |
| REFERENCE IDENTIFICATION | |
| Author/s | Smets EM, Garssen B, Bonke B, De Haes JC |
| Title | The Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI) psychometric qualities of an instrument to assess fatigue |
| Journal | Journal of Psychosomatic Research |
| Year | 1995 |
| Vol | 39 |
| Num | 3 |
| Pages | 315-25 |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Language | English |
| Other references of interest | |
| Link | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8546913 |
| Brief Description |
Application of the multidimensional fatigue inventory (MFI-20) in cancer patients receiving radiotherapy. |
| Link | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18085596 |
| Brief Description |
Measuring fatigue among women with Sjogren’s syndrome or rheumatoid arthritis: a comparison of the Profile of Fatigue (ProF) and the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI). |
| Link | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26713864/ |
| Brief Description |
Physical Fatigue, Fitness, and Muscle Function in Patients With Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody-Associated Vasculitis. |
| Instrument/Tool Translations References | |
| Link | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12641557 |
| Brief Description |
Validation of the French 'multidimensional fatigue inventory' (MFI 20). |
| Link | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17852297 |
| Brief Description |
Assessment of fatigue in patients with fibromyalgia and chronic widespread pain. Reliability and validity of the Swedish version of the MFI-20.
|
| Link | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20189864 |
| Brief Description |
Linguistic validation of six patient-reported outcomes instruments into 12 languages for patients with fibromyalgia.
|
| DEVELOPER CONTACT INFORMATION | |
| Correspondence to | Smets EM |
| e.m.smets@amc.uva.nl | |
| Address | Medical Psychology J3-220, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 22660, 1100 DD Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
| Website | www.amc.nl/MedPsych |
| Available | the developer can be contacted. |
| Links |
The MFI-20 is copyrighted on the names of the authors. The MFI is free for academic use, charges apply for commercial use. For further information, the developers can be contacted. |
| DESCRIPTION OF THE INSTRUMENT | |
| Type Of Measure | Questionnaire, Scale |
| Brief Description |
The MFI was originally developed to measure cancer fatigue and it was evaluated initially in cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patients and in healthy volunteers who might be physically tired (army recruits) or cognitively tired (junior doctors). The MFI covers domains of general fatigue, physical fatigue, activity, motivation, and mental fatigue (5 subscales with 4 items each). Each item had 7 response options in the original MFI-20, but this was revised to the current version with 5 response options. |
| Number of Items | 20 items; 5 subscales |
| Range | 4-20 for each subscale |
| Responses options/scale |
Yes scored 1–5 |
| Developed for | Not specified |
| PRACTICAL APPLICATION | |
| Method of administration | Self-administered |
| Recommendations to score |
Items are scored 1–5, with 10 positively phrased items reverse scored (this concerns following items: 2, 5, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19). For each of the 5 scales (general fatigue, physical fatigue, reduced activity, reduced motivation, and mental fatigue) a total score is calculated by summation of the scores of the individual items. Scores can range from the minimum of 4 to the maximum of 20. The use of a total score over all 20 items is not recommended. |
| Score Interpretation | Higher scores reflect greater severity/ higher fatigue. |
| Cut-off points | --- |
| Cut-off points applied to | --- |
| Smallest detectable change if described | --- |
| Smallest detectable change applied to | --- |
| Completion time by the patient | - minutes |
| Scoring time by the assessor | - minutes |
| Training to score | Not necessary |
| Strengths | Useful in clinical practice & research |
| Limitations | Floor effect |
| OTHER COMMENTS | |
| Other Comments | --- |