2.4. Measures of Mental Health
depression, Depression, fatigue, anxiety
At pre- and post-intervention testing, participants were asked to complete the Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI) [The BDI is a 21-question depression assessment tool in which participants respond to questions with 0, 1, 2, or 3. Scores can range from 0 to 63, with higher scores associated with the presence of depression. The GAD-7 consists of seven questions assessing participants anxiety, with participants answering the seven questions on a 0–3 scale (0—“not at all”; 1—“several days”; 2—“more than half the days”; 3—“nearly every day”), with higher scores associated with the presence of anxiety. The PFS is a 27-question fatigue screening tool using a Likert based system (1–10) with “1” indicating little to no fatigue and “10” indicating maximal fatigue symptoms. Scores can range from 1 to 10. The PFS uses 22 of the 27 questions and is divided into four subscales that measure varying dimensions of fatigue including behavioral/severity, affective meaning, sensory, and cognitive/mood. The total scores and scores for each subscale were summed and totaled, then divided by the total number of responses to obtain fatigue scores. Lower total scores indicate reduced or minimal fatigue. The QOL is a 2-part questionnaire, totaling 66 questions. Part 1 asks how satisfied the participant is in various portions of their life including but not limited to; “Your health”, “Your family’s health”, and “The emotional support you get from your family?” Available responses range between 1 and 6 with “1” indicating “Very dissatisfied” and “6” indicating “Very satisfied.” Part 2 of the QOL asks the participant how important various portions of their life is to them. Questions in part 2 are identical to the questions in part 1, but the available responses range between 1 and 6 with “1” indicating “Very unimportant” and “6” indicating “Very important.” For assessment of the QOL index, 3.5 was subtracted from the raw scores of the first 33 questions assessing how satisfied they are with various aspects of their life. Next, these values were multiplied by their corresponding scores of the second 33 questions assessing how important various aspects of their life were to them. Finally, all 33 modified answers were summed up and divided by total number of responses followed by the addition of 15. This process created a range of values between 0 and 30, with higher values indicating higher QOL, and was suggested for optimal analysis by the creators of the survey [