FACITs

FACITs, short for Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy measures, are a family of patient-reported outcome instruments used to assess health-related quality of life in people with chronic illness. They are designed to capture the patient perspective and are employed in research and clinical settings across a range of diseases, with particular emphasis on cancer, HIV/AIDS, and other long-term conditions.

The FACIT measurement system was developed to provide modular, scalable tools that can be tailored to specific diseases while maintaining a common core. Core scales typically cover physical, social/family, emotional, and functional well-being, contributing to an overall quality of life index. The best-known instrument in the family is FACT-G, the General component of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy suite. Additional FACIT measures include FACIT-Fatigue (FACIT-F), FACIT-Spiritual Well-Being (FACIT-Sp), and disease-specific supplements such as FACT-L (lung cancer) or FACT-B (breast cancer), which can be combined with the core scales as needed.

Administration and scoring rely on self-reported items answered on a Likert scale, commonly 0 to 4, with higher scores indicating better health status or QoL after appropriate recoding. Scales are computed by summing items within each subscale and the overall instrument, with guidelines for handling missing data.

Usage and validation: FACIT measures have been validated for reliability and construct validity across populations and languages, demonstrating sensitivity to clinical change. They are widely used in randomized trials and observational studies to support patient-centered outcomes and to complement clinical endpoints. Access to the measures is typically through licensing and guidelines provided by the FACIT organization.