Turkish adaptation of chalder fatigue scale and investigating its psychometric properties in young adults

The purpose of this study was to develop Turkish version of the Chalder Fatigue Scale (CFS) and to examine its psychometric properties in young adults. The study was carried out on 501 healthy young adults (202 female, 299 male) aged 20 to 40 years (mean±standard deviation: 27.14 ±1.96). The adaptation of CFS into Turkish was done and test-retest reliability, internal consistency, concurrent validity, and construct validity of the scale were examined. The re-test was performed with 192 individuals between 3 to 7 days after the test. The physical fatigue subscale (CFS-PFS) was found to be good, the mental fatigue subscale (CFS-MFS) was found to be moderate and global (CFS-G) was found to be good test-retest reliability (Intraclass Correlation Coefficient values were 0.793, 0.739, 0.817 respectively). Internal consistency of the CFS-PFS was good, the CFS-MFS was acceptable, and the CFS-G was good (Cronbach alpha values were 0.893, 0.764, 0.897 respectively). Concurrent validity was assessed with Checklist Individual Strength Fatigue Scale and Visual Analog Scale and moderate correlation was found between CFS and these scales (r values were 0.6 (p<0,001) and 0.54 (p<0,001) respectively). Exploratory Factor Analysis has shown that the scale was consisted of factor 1, representing CFS-PFS, and factor 2, representing CFS-MFS. Convergent validity of CFS was supported by its significant association with Beck Depression Inventory (r:0.42 (p<0.001), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, (r:0.36 (p<0.001), Nottingham Health Profile (r:0.39 (p<0.001) except for Godin Leisure Time Physical Activity Scale. The CFS had low-moderate and moderate correlation with these scales. However, it was not correlated with Godin Leisure Time Physical Activity Scale (r:0.048 (p<0.001). Known-group validity showed that CFS could discriminate individuals with good and bad sleep quality (p<0.001). As a conclusion, Turkish version of CFS is accepted as a reliable and valid measurement tool to measure fatigue. Keywords: Chalder Fatigue Scale, Turkish version, fatigue, assessment, reliability, validity