Fatigue in Patients with Cancer

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XI

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2. Abstract

   • Agnes Glaus

   Pages 1-1

3. The Concept of Fatigue or Tiredness as Experienced in Health and Disease, and More Specifically in Cancer

   • Agnes Glaus

   Pages 3-26

4. A Qualitative Study to Explore the Concept of Fatigue/Tiredness in Cancer Patients and in Healthy Individuals

   • Agnes Glaus

   Pages 27-53

5. Construction of a New Fatigue Assessment Questionnaire

   • Agnes Glaus

   Pages 54-76

6. Testing the Fatigue Assessment Questionnaire in Healthy Persons and in Cancer Patients

   • Agnes Glaus

   Pages 77-104

7. The Relationship Between Fatigue and Type and Stage of Cancer

   • Agnes Glaus

   Pages 105-150

8. Synthesis and General Discussion

   • Agnes Glaus

   Pages 151-162

9. Back Matter

   Pages 163-172

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Current literature shows that there is a gap in our knowledge about how tired­ ness/fatigue in cancer patients should be defined and measured. Existing fa­ tigue-related research in cancer patients shows conceptual and measurement differences (Piper 1993). There is no continuum of tiredness/fatigue in univer­ sal use. What do patients mean if they fill in a visual analogue scale indicating that they feel "very tired"? Is it an indicator of general well-being, and thus an 1993)? Most articles estimate of general quality of life (Hiirny and Bernhard written by English authors use the word fatigue to identify extreme tired­ ness. It could be said that in the English language, tiredness that is perceived as unusual, continuing distress is fatigue rather than tiredness. In the German language, tiredness (Mudigkeit) is not primarily a term for distress attributed to disease or unusual effort. But tiredness becomes a distressing phenomenon when it no longer regulates a healthy balance between rest and activity but represents unusual, abnormal or excessive whole-body tiredness that is dis­ proportionate to or unrelated to activity or excessive exertion (Piper 1993). As there is no word for fatigue in the German language, the definition "extreme, unusual tiredness" (in German: extreme, unubliche Mudigkeit), is used to explain the term "fatigue:' This clarification is needed to ensure that future fatigue research conducted in German-speaking countries can be com­ pared with such research carried out elsewhere.

• Bewertung
• Fatigue
• Gesundheit
• Konzept
• Krebs
• Müdigkeit
• assessment
• cancer
• concept
• fat
• health
• oncology
• patients
• reliability

• Zentrum für Tumordiagnostik und Prävention, Krebsvorsorge und Pflegeforschung, St. Gallen, Switzerland

  Agnes Glaus

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