Friday, August 28, 2009

Research Alert (2nd posting): National Fatigue Survey - US Only

The other day someone from the Fatigue Management Institute visited my July 30 post, National Fatigue Survey (US only). Here is the comment he/she left on August 25:

Thanks for posting information on our National Fatigue Survey, and thanks to all who have participated. We will break out results by types of medical disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis and chronic fatigue syndrome, if we have a large enough response rate. Please encourage others to participate, as the Survey will be available through January 31, 2010, and we are not yet reaching as many of the individuals who deal with fatigue as we would have liked.

Corinne Russell
Dr. Thom Harrell
Fatigue Management Institute

I responded with the promise that I would re-post the survey info. From this point on, I am copying and pasting from my original July 30 post.

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Rather than trying to summarize in my own words, here is the information directly from the website:

The Fatigue Management Institute is conducting a nationwide survey of what it's like to experience chronic fatigue. The purpose of the survey is to develop a better understanding of fatigue in chronic medical conditions and to improve treatments and techniques for managing fatigue.

We encourage you to participate if you experience significant or chronic fatigue. The survey takes about 20 minutes to complete. Your participation is completely anonymous. We do not ask for your name, e-mail address, or any identifying information. The information obtained will be used only to better understand fatigue and its management in chronic illness.

Our findings will be presented at professional meetings and in medical journals only as group data, and no specific individual information will be published.

Take the survey.

About The Fatigue Management Institute

The Fatigue Management Institute is an outgrowth of the fatigue-related research and clinical programs developed in the School of Psychology at the Florida Institute of Technology. The Institute serves as the focal point for integrating emerging research findings with techniques for day-to-day management of fatigue. The Institute conducts research on fatigue and fatigue management interventions, provides fatigue management training, and disseminates summaries of national and international research findings related to fatigue and its management in chronic medical conditions.

This survey is studying chronic fatigue in general (i.e., not specifically Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). I filled out the survey, and it took what felt like forever to complete it. Though I didn't time it, I'm not so sure I agree with that 20 minute estimation... Make sure you've got the stamina before trying to fill it out.

Thanks to Shelli for posting this survey the other day!
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Today's Activities: work. Today's Most Annoying Symptoms: exhaustion, mild headache, active eczema on left and right underarms, ringing in ears, uncomfortable intestines.

Mood (10 is best): 6
Energy (10 is best): 3
Physical Discomfort (10 is worst): 5

5 comments:

upnorth said...

I think the survey is intended for people from the U.S.....since it's called a "national survey". I went to fill it out but it only had a choice of states. Since I didn't want to skew the data, I decided not to do it.

Laurel said...

Thanks for posting this. Just did it. :)

alyson said...

Good point, upnorth. I had "(US only)" on my original post but forgot to say that on this one. I have updated the title of my post to include "US Only." Thanks for the note.

Laurel, glad you had the chance to take the survey.

me/cfs warrior said...

Hi Alyson-

Thanks for posting this survey. I'm going to take it.

It's fine with me if you post the study that I posted on my blog on your blog (if that makes any sense). :)

Thanks for your support these past few days...

Terri

alyson said...

Hi Terri, your post made complete sense! :) I'll be posting the research info tonight. Thanks!