Outcome Measures of Fatigue in Adults With Cancer Receiving Radiation Therapy: A Scoping Review.

Most included studies came from high-income Western countries, and breast, head and neck, and prostate cancers made up 83% of the sample—findings may not transfer to other cancer types or healthcare settings. No formal quality appraisal was performed, so the rigour of the 12 included studies was not evaluated. Only English-language publications were included and grey literature was excluded, potentially missing emerging tools or non-English validation work. No eligible studies published after 2022 met the criteria, so the evidence base may be dated. The review adopts an occupational therapy lens (activity and participation), which may not reflect the primary purpose of most fatigue measures, which are designed to assess symptom severity rather than functional impact.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Open-access publishing was facilitated by Deakin University through a Wiley–Deakin University agreement via the Council of Australasian University Librarians.

Do not read the finding that 6 of 13 measures include participation items as evidence that those tools are adequate for occupational therapy assessment. The review explicitly states that no measure fully aligns with the NCCN definition of cancer-related fatigue or comprehensively addresses occupational therapy's focus on functional outcomes, and the authors recommend supplementing any fatigue scale with occupation-focused assessment.