A Fatigue Item Bank for Children with Cancer

描述（由申请人提供）：癌症相关疲劳（CRF）是癌症儿童的常见经历，但往往未被认识和治疗。部分原因是缺乏适当的评估。适当的评估可以提供重复的、全面的和精确的测量。这些可以很容易地整合到临床实践中。分数也可以在不同年龄组和人群之间进行比较。本研究旨在建立一个与临床相关、全面且方法合理的癌症儿童疲劳物项库。我们希望通过完成三个“项目”来实现这一目标。项目一是生成儿童癌症相关疲劳问题库，通过文献查阅、研究、临床输入等方式完成。项目二是使用“病人即专家”的方法（q -方法学）探索自我报告的疲劳模式。项目3是通过使用因子分析和项目反应理论模型，检查项目的维度并将它们的位置校准到一个公共矩阵上，从而开发拟议的题库。在这项研究完成后，银行将包括适合8-18岁儿童的常见项目。将不同年龄组的项目划分为一个共同的度量标准，同时考虑到每个年龄组的主观经验背景，该数据库可用于纵向监测疲劳状态，因此，甚至可以研究治疗/疾病的后期影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a common experience for children with cancer, yet often under-recognized and under-treated. This is partly due to the lack of appropriate assessments. An appropriate assessment can provide repeated, comprehensive, and precise measurement. These can be easily integrated into clinical practice. Scores can also be compared across age groups and populations. This study aims to develop a clinically-relevant, comprehensive, and methodologically sound fatigue item bank for children with cancer. We expect to achieve this aim through the completion of three "projects". Project 1 is to generate a pediatric cancer-related fatigue question pool, which will be completed via literature review, research and clinical input. Project 2 is to explore patterns of self-reported fatigue using a 'patient as expert' approach (Q-methodology). Project 3 is to develop the proposed item bank by examining dimensionality of items and calibrating their locations onto a common matrix by using both factor analysis and an Itet Response Theory model. At the completion of this study, the bank will include common items appropriate for ages 8-18. Scaling items from different age groups onto a common metric yet taking into account the context of the subjective experience of each age group, this bank can be used to monitor fatigue status longitudinally and therefore, study even the late effects of treatment/disease.