Fennell Phase Inventory

The Fennell Scale is a self-report measure developed in 1999 by the DePaul Myalgic Encephalomyelitis & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Research Team in the Center for Community Research, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Researchers who developed the scale are Leonard Jason, Patricia Fennell, Susan Klein, Guy Fricano, Jane Halpert, & Renee R Taylor.

Fennell Scale

 * Rate each of the items below on a five point scale
 * 1= definitely do not agree
 * 2=do not agree
 * 3=somewhat agree
 * 4=agree
 * 5=very strongly agree


 * ___1.   I feel like I am falling apart.a
 * ___2.   I am just beginning to recognize when and how my symptoms occur.b
 * ___3.   I am beginning to accept the fact that I will never be completely like I was before the illness and that I will need to become a new person.b
 * ___4.   I now have learned that living with the illness involves getting sicker, at times, and improving, at times.c
 * ___5.   The primary way for me to improve is if my physician finds me the right treatment.a
 * ___6.   I am beginning to seek support and information from others who have or who know about the illness.b
 * ___7.   I am in the early process of creating meaning about my illness experience.b
 * ___8.   I have gained a sense of myself that is blended - a combination of my life before and after I first got sick.c
 * ___9.   I need to know with certainty when and if I am going to get better.a
 * ___10. I am just starting to feel like I have some control of my life.b
 * ___11. I am beginning to learn how to live with the unknown or chronic nature of my illness.b
 * ___12. I have better and more satisfying relationships with people I care about since I first became sick.d
 * ___13. It is my fault I got sick.d
 * ___14. I am just starting to realize that there may be things I can do to help myself feel better.b
 * ___15. I am starting to see my illness experience as having some value.b
 * ___16. I am proud of myself for living with this illness.c
 * ___17. I think about my illness all of the time.a
 * ___18. I am just beginning to stabilize (i.e., feeling a bit less confused and a bit more ordered).b
 * ___19. For the first time, I am beginning to have compassion and love for myself and for what I have endured.b
 * ___20. I am a better and wiser person since I first got sick.c


 * a = Crisis Factor
 * b = Stabilization Factor
 * c = Integration Factor
 * d = Item did not significantly load

Scoring
The Crisis mean score was calculated by adding items 1, 5, 9, and 17 of the Fennell Phase Inventory and dividing by four. The Stabilization mean score was calculated by adding items 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, 15, 18, and 19 of the Fennell Phase Inventory and dividing by ten. The Integration mean score was calculated by adding items 4, 8, 16, and 20 of the Fennell Phase Inventory and dividing by four.

These scoring criteria are in Jason, Fricano, Taylor, Halpert, Fennell, Klein, and Levine (2001, January). Using Crisis, Stabilization, and Integration mean scores (see above), each participant was then assigned to one of the four groups according to the following algorithmic criteria derived from the cluster analysis from the data in the Jason, Fennell, Klein, Fricano, Halpert, and Taylor (1999) study. Criteria for the Crisis group were a Crisis score of 3.00 or above and Stabilization and Integration scores of 3.30 or below. Criteria for the Integration group were a Crisis score of 2.50 or below, a Stabilization score of 2.80 or below and an Integration score of 4.25 or above. Cases not in either of these groups that had either a Crisis score 3.10 or above, a Stabilization score 3.40 or above, or an Integration score of 3.75 or above were classified into a Resolution group. Cases that did not meet any of the above criteria comprised the Stabilization group.

Learn more

 * The relationship of Fennell phases to symptoms among patients with chronic fatigue syndrome