Coetzee B, Loades M E, Du Toit S, Read R, Kagee A
Department of Psychology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa.
Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom.
Vulnerable Child Youth Stud. 2018 Aug 20;13(4):305-316. doi: 10.1080/17450128.2018.1510147.
Evidence suggests that HIV-infected adolescents experience elevated levels of fatigue that impacts their functioning at school and other important aspects of their lives. Yet, fatigue has not been measured amongst this population group. In this cross-sectional, mixed-methods study we explored the psychometric properties of the 11-item Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire (CFQ) amongst 134 South African adolescents (11-18 years old) receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the Western Cape. Using the Likert scoring method for the CFQ, the mean total score was 14.89 (SD=3.83) and about a quarter (n=33, 24.63%) of adolescents scored ≥ 18, indicating problematic levels of fatigue. The CFQ demonstrated good internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.83 (0.84, with item 11 deleted), which is comparable to other validation studies. On the first iteration of the principal component analysis (PCA) with a Varimax rotation, three factors accounted for 59.15% of the variance. However, the third factor consisted of one item only which we chose to remove from the analysis. On the second iteration of the PCA, a two factor solution was retained that accounted for 54.24% of the variance. The first factor, 'Physical fatigue', represented the first eight items on the scale. The second factor 'Mental fatigue' represented items nine and ten. The CFQ also demonstrated modest content and construct validity. The CFQ is a short, easy-to-use and cost-effective measure of fatigue, and demonstrates reliability and validity amongst a South African sample of adolescents. Given the high rate of fatigue amongst our participants, we recommend that future interventions be developed to reduce fatigue among HIV-infected adolescents, which may ultimately lead to improvements in school performance and social functioning. Future research may include test-retest reliability of the CFQ in order to show stability over time.
有证据表明，感染艾滋病毒的青少年疲劳水平升高，这影响了他们在学校的表现以及生活中的其他重要方面。然而，尚未对这一人群的疲劳状况进行测量。在这项横断面混合方法研究中，我们探讨了11项Chalder疲劳问卷（CFQ）在西开普省134名接受抗逆转录病毒治疗（ART）的南非青少年（11至18岁）中的心理测量特性。采用CFQ的李克特计分法，平均总分是14.89（标准差=3.83），约四分之一（n=33，24.63%）的青少年得分≥18，表明存在问题性的疲劳水平。CFQ显示出良好的内部一致性，克朗巴哈系数为0.83（删除第11项后为0.84），这与其他验证研究相当。在进行方差最大化旋转的主成分分析（PCA）的第一次迭代中，三个因素解释了59.15%的方差。然而，第三个因素仅由一项组成，我们选择将其从分析中删除。在PCA的第二次迭代中，保留了一个双因素解决方案，该方案解释了54.24%的方差。第一个因素“身体疲劳”代表量表上的前八项。第二个因素“精神疲劳”代表第九项和第十项。CFQ还显示出适度的内容效度和结构效度。CFQ是一种简短、易于使用且具有成本效益的疲劳测量工具，在南非青少年样本中显示出可靠性和有效性。鉴于我们的参与者中疲劳发生率很高，我们建议未来制定干预措施以减少感染艾滋病毒青少年的疲劳，这最终可能会提高他们的学业成绩和社交功能。未来的研究可能包括CFQ的重测信度，以显示其随时间的稳定性。
