Fatigue as an Understudied Barrier to Participation in Life Roles

Fatigue is one of the most burdensome and disabling symptoms in numerous acute and chronic conditions and is associated with reduced participation in all aspects of daily life, for example, parenting, employment, and socialization. Historically, occupational practitioners played key roles in fatigue management by creating and implementing interventions. The American Occupational Therapy Foundation convened a Planning Grant Collective workshop with the goal to develop collaborative research ideas and proposals to advance the understanding and management of fatigue. Participants from occupational therapy and other disciplines, with expertise with fatigue or who were conducting research on fatigue, participated in a 3-day virtual workshop. Four main topics emerged: implementation science, treatment taxonomy, trial design and comparative effectiveness, and phenotyping. This white paper describes the proceedings, summarizes the discussions, and outlines recommendations from the PGC workshop on fatigue.