Translation and initial validation of Chinese (Cantonese) version of Modified Fatigue Impact Scale (MFIS-C) in people with stroke

PURPOSE: To translate and culturally adapt the Modified Fatigue Impact Scale (MFIS) to Chinese version, and to psychometrically test it in stroke population. METHODS: This study consisted of 2 phases. In phase one, we translated and culturally adopted the original English version of MFIS into Chinese (Cantonese) (MFIS-C). In phase two, the MFIS was psychometrically tested using a cohort of community-dwelling people with stroke (n = 101) and healthy control (n = 50). Among the stroke participants, 52 of them were reassessed after a 1-week interval. RESULTS: The MFIS-C demonstrated satisfactory content validity and good to excellent internal consistency. The overall MFIS-C and its subscales have good test-retest reliability. The MDC(95) were 14.86, 7.49, and 9.70 for the overall MFIS-C physical, cognitive and psychosocial subscales, respectively. The overall MFIS-C and its 2 subscales have significant weak to moderate negative correlations with the Community Integration Measure and the 12-item Short Form Health Survey Version 2. Our findings revealed that the people with chronic stroke living in Hong Kong were reported to have high level of fatigue. CONCLUSION: The MFIS-C is a reliable and valid measure for assessing the level of fatigue in people with stroke. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12883-022-02832-w.