Abstract

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to identify participants’ attributions for their global impression of change ratings in a behavioral intervention for unexplained chronic fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome.

At 3-month follow-up, participants (N = 67) were asked “Why do you think you are (improved, unchanged, worse)?” Improved patients pointed to specific behavioral changes, unchanged patients referred to a lack of change in lifestyle, and worsened patients invoked stress and/or specific life events.

Identifying patient perceptions of behaviors associated with patient global impression of change-rated improvement and non-improvement may assist in developing more effective management strategies in clinical care.

Participant attributions for global change ratings in unexplained chronic fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome by F Friedberg et al in J Health Psychol. 2014 Jun 8 [Epub ahead of print]