Energy/Fatigue

These questions are about how you feel and how things have been with you during the past month. For each question, please circle one number for each question that comes closest to the way you have been feeling.

How much time during the past 4 weeks... None
of the time		 A little
of the time		 Some
of the time		 A good bit
of the time		 Most
of the time		 All
of the time
1. Did you feel worn out?
0
1
2
3
4
5
2. Did you have a lot of energy?
0
1
2
3
4
5
3. Did you feel tired?
0
1
2
3
4
5
4. Did you have enough energy to do the things you wanted to do?
0
1
2
3
4
5
5. Did you feel full of pep?
0
1
2
3
4
5

Scoring

Score the number circled, except items 1 and 3, which are reversed (i.e., 5, 4, 3, 2, 1), then take the mean of the five items. If two consecutive numbers are circled for one item, code the more conservative (i.e., less energy or more fatigue). If two non-consecutive items are circled, do not score the item. The scales' score is the mean of the 5 items. If more than two items are missing, do not score this scale. Range is 0-5; higher score indicates more energy.

Characteristics

Tested on 1,130 subjects with chronic disease. N=51 for test-retest.

No. of
items
Observed
Range

Mean
Standard
Deviation
Internal Consistency
Reliability
Test-Retest
Reliability
5
0-5
2.16
1.08
.89
.85

Source of Psychometric Data

Stanford Chronic Disease Self-Management Study. Psychometrics reported in: Lorig K, Stewart A, Ritter P, González V, Laurent D, & Lynch J, Outcome Measures for Health Education and other Health Care Interventions. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications, 1996, pp.25,49.

Comments

This scale was adapted from the Medical Outcomes Study. Items should be scrambled among other items using the same response categories, if possible (e.g., Health Distress scale). We have found that items 1,3, and 4 change much more than the other two items. In other words one can be less fatigued without having much more energy. Reprinted with permission, Duke University Press.

References

Stewart AL, Hays RD, & Ware JE Jr. Health perceptions, energy/fatigue, and health distress measures; in AL Steward & JE Ware Jr (Eds), Measuring Functioning and Well-Being: The Medical Outcomes Study Approach. Durham NC: Duke University Press, 1992.

Lorig K, Stewart A, Ritter P, González V, Laurent D, & Lynch J, Outcome Measures for Health Education and other Health Care Interventions. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications, 1996, pp.25,49.

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