107 Volume 3 • Issue 1 • 1000119 Madridge J Nurs. ISSN: 2638-1605 Madridge Journal of Nursing Research Article Open Access Psychometric Properties of a Developed Arabic Instrument to measure Cancer Treatment-Related Fatigue in Saudi Children Eyad M Alhelih 1 * and Omar G Baker 2 1 Assistant Professor, College of Nursing, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia 2 Associate Professor, College of Nursing, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia Article Info *Corresponding author: Eyad M. Alhelih Assistant Professor College of Nursing King Saud University Saudi Arabia E-mail: eyad@ksu.edu.sa Received: April 19, 2018 Accepted: May 7, 2018 Published: May 14, 2018 Citation: Alhelih EM, Baker OG. Psychometric Properties of a Developed Arabic Instrument to measure Cancer Treatment-Related Fatigue in Saudi Children. Madridge J Nurs. 2018; 3(1): 107-112. doi: 10.18689/mjn-1000119 Copyright: © 2018 The Author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Published by Madridge Publishers Abstract Fatigue has proven to be a pivotal topic of research and an abstract concept to explore and, as such, has led to debates about whether it will ever be possible to develop a theory concerning its causes, mechanisms, consequences, prevention and treatment. This cross-sectional descriptive study aims to validate a developed Arabic instrument to measure cancer treatment-related fatigue among Saudi children with cancer. The sample consisted of 100 pediatric oncology patients aging 8-12 years recruited from three large ambulatory hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Satisfactory approximations of internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) were decided upon for the developed instrument subscales: Fatigue (α =0.88), Effect of Fatigue (α =0.86), Compliance to Fatigue (α =0.71), and for Sense of Fatigue (α =0.50). Factorial validity was supported using principal components analysis with varimax rotation that accounted for 40% of the total variance. This validation study warrants using the developed instrument in the assessment of Saudi pediatric cancer patient’s related fatigue. Yet, further validation is needed with other types of cancer and treatment. List of Abbreviations: FAI: Fatigue Assessment Instrument; POMS-SF: Profile of Mood States-Shortened Form; FACT-An: Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Anemia; ACTRFS: Arabic Cancer Treatment – Related Fatigue Scale. Keywords: Cancer treatment-related fatigue; Children with cancer; Instrument validation; Arabic-language instrument; Saudi Arabia. Introduction Fatigue is one of the most widely recognized, prevailing and stressful symptoms during various stages of cancer-related treatment in children with cancer [1-5]. Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) occurs during cancer treatment and after it in approximately 75- 85% of patients according to cancer type and treatment modalities [6, 7]. During the late 1990; researches utilized qualitative methods to investigate the concept of cancer–related fatigue among children with cancer [1, 8]. There is no single definition is yet widely agreed upon even though the ongoing researchers’ efforts in defining cancer-related fatigue due to the ambiguity of determining the underlying mechanisms of fatigue [9]. Though, the widely accepted agreement is that cancer–related fatigue is a multidimensional and subjective phenomenon that needs to be understood from children’s’ perspective and perception [10, 11]. Hinds PS et al [8] defined fatigue for children with cancer aged 7-12 as “a profound sense of being weak or tired or of having difficulty with body movement” Stages of ISSN: 2638-1605