2.4.5. The Functioning in the Chronic Illness Scale (FCIS)

The scale is used to identify deficit areas in the functioning of a patient with a chronic disease, which is necessary to determine the appropriate therapeutic measures. The questionnaire assesses the impact of a disease on the patient, the patient’s impact on a disease and the impact of a disease on the patient’s attitude. The first part of the questionnaire is the patient’s subjective assessment of how a disease affects their life. The second part of the questionnaire specifies the patient’s views on the possibility of impact on he course of the disease. A maximum score indicates that a patient feels that they have a significant impact on the course of a disease. While a minimum score indicates that a patient believes that they have no impact on the course of a disease. The third part describes the patient’s attitude towards a new life situation. A maximum score indicates that a patient is very optimistic about the future, whereas the minimum score indicates that they see the future rather pessimistically. The result is the sum of the first, second and third subscales. The maximum score indicates that a patient is functioning very well with a disease, while the minimum indicates that a patient is functioning poorly. The internal consistency of the questionnaire, which is expressed with Cronbach’s alpha coefficient = 0.855, indicates its high reliability and homogeneity. The validation procedure revealed that the FCIS is a reliable and homogeneous tool for measuring the physical and mental functioning of a patient with a chronic disease [13].