Research abstract

Background:
The DePaul Symptom Questionnaire (DSQ) was developed to provide a structured approach for collecting standardized symptomatology and health history information to allow researchers and clinicians to determine whether a patient meets the diagnostic criteria for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), and/or chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to examine the test-retest reliability of the DSQ.

Methods:
Test-retest reliability of the measure was examined with a sample of
26 adults self-identifying as having either ME/CFS, ME, and/or CFS and
25 adults who did not self-identify as having these illnesses and were otherwise healthy controls.

Results:
Overall, the majority of items on the DSQ exhibited good to excellent test-retest reliability, with Pearson’s or kappa correlation coefficients that were 0.70 or higher.

Conclusions:
Thus, the present study suggests that the DSQ is a reliable diagnostic measure that can provide a standardized way of examining illness constructs and symptomatology among patients who identify as having ME/CFS, ME, and/or CFS.

Test-retest reliability of the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire, by Leonard A. Jason, Suzanna So, Abigail A. Brown, Madison Sunnquist & Meredyth Evans in Biomedicine, Health & Behavior​, Vol 3, issue 1, 08 Jan 2015