Fatigue Self-Management in Primary Care: Efficacy, Credibility, and Economics

State University New York Stony Brook, Stony Brook NY

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The objective of this application is to test the efficacy of a 2-session cognitive-behavioral self-management program for chronic fatigue. The application presents plans to test whether the proposed intervention yields significant improvement in fatigue, physical and role functioning, psychological distress, utilization and cost-effectiveness over that of an attention-control intervention, and standard medical care alone. The candidates propose a single-site, between-subject study employing stratified random-assignment that is to be conducted in a Family Medicine Clinic. Family Medicine nurses will be trained in the delivery of an intervention (drawn from a cognitive-behavioral therapy perspective) geared toward patient-self management. The application posits that two psycho-educational patient-self-management training sessions plus standard medical care will result in significantly better clinical outcomes (less fatigue, improved functioning, and less psychological distress) than the attention-only control condition and standard medical care alone. Additionally, the candidates posit that the proposed treatment will be viewed as more credible than traditional mental healthcare, and will be more cost-effective than standard medical care.