Surviving a myocardial infarction (MI) can be a stressful event entailing challenges in daily life\nduring the recovery period. Experiencing fatigue symptoms post-MI has been described as bothersome\nand occurs in nearly half of patients four months and two years after MI. The aetiology of\nfatigue disorder is unclear, but research has shown that fatigue plays an important role in the relationship\nbetween stress and perceived poor health. Previous findings indicate that having access\nto an easily administered stress measurement is worthwhile both in the clinic and in research.\nThe single-item measure of stress symptoms has not been validated in persons treated for MI. The\naim was to validate the single-item measure of stress symptoms and to explore its association with\nfatigue in a sample of persons treated for MI. Methods: 142 respondents completed the questionnaires\nof the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory-20, the single-item measure of stress symptoms\nand the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PPS-10) two months post-MI. Correlation analysis and t-tests\nwere used to validate the single-item stress measure and its association with post-MI fatigue. Results:\nThe convergent validity of the single-item measure of stress symptoms was confirmed. In\nanalyses of relations between stress and fatigue, it was found that the single-item stress measure\nwas strongly associated with both the global fatigue score and all four fatigue dimension scores\n(general, physical and mental fatigue as well as reduced activity). Conclusion: The single-item\nmeasure of stress symptoms was found to be a valid measure of post-MI stress. Also, the measure\nwas useful in assessing associations between stress and fatigue and could therefore indicate that post-MI fatigue experiences should be further explored in full using multidimensional fatigue assessment.
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