UK:ME Association funds research for a new clinical assessment toolkit in NHS ME/CFS specialist services, 2023

[Lou B Lou]

What junk is this? These activities are not in the least bit comparable.

"Moderate activities: How much difficulty do you have with activities like moving a table, pushing a vacuum cleaner, bowling, or playing golf?"

 

[Trish]

Just adding because it might be useful to add a general description of what the SF-36 questions approx include for physical function

These are just from the AI at the top of the search engine, so I hope that they are suitable to paste?

"The SF-36 questionnaire assesses physical functioning through a series of questions, primarily focused on daily activities and the impact of health on those activities. These questions explore limitations in activities like walking, climbing stairs, and engaging in vigorous activities, as well as the ability to perform basic tasks like bathing or dressing.

Specific questions in the Physical Functioning domain of the SF-36 include:

Vigorous activities: How much difficulty do you have with activities like running, lifting heavy objects, or participating in strenuous sports?

Moderate activities: How much difficulty do you have with activities like moving a table, pushing a vacuum cleaner, bowling, or playing golf?

Lifting or carrying groceries: How much difficulty do you have with this activity?

Climbing several flights of stairs: How much difficulty do you have with this activity?

Climbing one flight of stairs: How much difficulty do you have with this activity?

Bending, kneeling, or stooping: How much difficulty do you have with this activity?

Walking more than a mile: How much difficulty do you have with this activity?

Walking several blocks: How much difficulty do you have with this activity?

Walking one block: How much difficulty do you have with this activity?

Bathing or dressing yourself: How much difficulty do you have with this activity?

These questions help to gauge the extent to which physical health problems limit a person's ability to participate in various activities of daily living."



It seems the questions come with a scale of 'limited a lot' to 'not limited' to select from

and from what I can gather the questions are indeed phrased over different 'recall periods' depending on the research: Short Form 36 - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics



so either fronting each question with “over the last month …” or “in the last week…”

What junk is this? These activities are not in the least bit comparable.

"Moderate activities: How much difficulty do you have with activities like moving a table, pushing a vacuum cleaner, bowling, or playing golf?"

This is not new information. The SF-36 physical functioning questionnaire is the old one that's been used for most ME/CFS GET and CBT trials as an outcome measure, including PACE.

We have multiple threads on it, including:
Members only Explaining the SF-36 questionnaire
What do people think of SF-36?

If you want to discuss it further I suggest going to one of those threads.