The Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT) Measurement System is a collection of QoL questionnaires targeted to the management of chronic illness, including cancer. The FACT-G (now in Version 4) is a 27-item compilation of general questions divided into four subscales: Physical Well-Being, Social/Family Well-Being, Emotional Well-Being, and Functional Well-Being. It is considered appropriate for use with patients with any form of cancer, and has also been used and validated in other chronic illness conditions (e.g., HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis) and in the general population (using a slightly modified version).

Validation of a core measure allowed for the evolution of multiple disease, treatment, condition, and non-cancer-specific subscales. FACIT subscales are constructed to complement the FACT-G, addressing relevant disease-, treatment-, or condition-related issues not already covered in the general questionnaire. Each is intended to be as specific as necessary to capture the clinically-relevant problems associated with a given condition or symptom, yet general enough to allow for comparison across diseases, and extension, as appropriate, to other chronic medical conditions. For the current analysis, we used the Fatigue scale. The Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue Scale (FACIT-Fatigue scale) is a 13-item questionnaire that assesses self-reported fatigue and its impact upon daily activities and function (Yellen, Cella, Webster, Blendowsky, & Kaplan, 1997). It was developed to meet a growing demand for the precise evaluation of fatigue associated with anemia in cancer patients.

The FACT–Cognitive Function (FACT–Cog) is a self-report measure that has been developed as part of the FACT measurement system to assess the nature and severity of cognitive deficits among cancer patients as well as the impact of these deficits on patients’ quality of life. Items in the scale were generated by tabulating the most common problems identified during interviews with experienced oncology providers and patients who reported cognitive impairments following chemotherapy. The FACT-G Physical Well-Being (FACT-G-PWB) subscale comprises seven items rated on a 5-point Likert scale (0-4). Scores are the sum of all items and thus range from 0 to 28. Items are reverse-scored so that higher scores indicate better well-being.