Australia: School Study on Teenagers with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

A recent study of Australian teenagers with chronic fatigue syndrome found CFS impacted their development of academic, cognitive and social skills. Students with CFS missed an average of 42% of classes over a term, 37% more than their healthy peers. The study recommends school staff be trained to understand chronic fatigue syndrome and its impact on students.

Melbourne scientists, led by Dr Sarah Knight at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, studied 39 teenagers with chronic fatigue syndrome and 28 control subjects. Researchers gathered subjective and objective measures of school functioning, plus fatigue and emotional symptoms.

Published in Frontiers in Pediatrics (Pediatric Neurology), the study examined school participation,  academic performance and ‘school connectedness’ in students with chronic fatigue syndrome (pediatric definitition by Jason et al 2006) aged between 13 and 17. The authors acknowledge study may not be representative as participants were recruited from The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and required to attend the hospital in person for the academic assessment. Therefore, those who were too sick to attend were not included in the study, nor those with mild cases managed by their GP. The small sample size was also acknowledged, along with the participants being drawn from high socio-economic status families.

School absence in CFS students was an average of 42%, while in the control group it was 5%. Greater severity of fatigue was associated with lower levels of school attendance, quality of life and participation, but not academic performance. There was only a 6% difference in academic performance.

“School staff should be provided with professional development aimed at increasing their understanding of CFS and how it can impact on the school functioning of students. Given the unique needs of each adolescent, as well as vast differences across school settings, tailored and individualized school planning that addresses not only school attendance, but also strategies to minimize the impact of the illness on school-related quality of life, school participation, school connectedness, and academic outcomes, will be crucial.”

The authors said “the impact that CFS has on school functioning may place adolescents at a heightened risk of long-term maladjustment across a range of key developmental areas.”

School Functioning in Adolescents With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

The study was funded by the Mason Foundation and Victorian Government’s Infrastructure Grant.

Read the full paper.

Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp
Email

Latest News

#MEAction logo is in white in the top left corner and the words Colorado State Chapter are in white laying across an image of snow capped mountains and pine trees. There is a bottom section of the image that is a green box with the words Working-With-Governors-Office-to-Create A New Senior Policy Advisor Role-Leading to Statewide Report on Long COVID

#MEAction Colorado Works With Governor’s Office to Create A New Senior Policy Advisor Role on Long COVID and Post Viral Infection Planning–Leading to Statewide Report on Long COVID

#MEAction Colorado’s first legislative effort in Colorado began with an ME/CFS day declaration in the Colorado Legislature on February 25, 2020. Representative Alex Valdez read into the legislative record a proclamation about the presence of and deleterious effects of ME in Colorado. This effort was relatively easy to accomplish and consisted of finding a representative

Read More »
Left: Woman healthy and happy standing beside her husband. Right: Sick woman in hospital bed.

Woman with Severe ME and EDS starving to death in NHS hospital

UPDATE: We want to provide a brief update on Sami Berry’s case and what she needs help with now. The situation in hospital reached the point that Sami decided she had to self-discharge to try and stay alive. She is at home with a Percutaneous Endoscopic Jejunostomy (PEJ ) tube but she needs treatment with

Read More »

Help keep our work going

We rely on donations from people like you to keep fighting for equality for people with ME.

Donate

Get actions alerts and news direct to your inbox

You can choose what you want to be kept up to date on.

Subscribe
Scroll to Top