Energy and Vitality

Anchoring Vignettes for Energy and Vitality

Questions:

Overall in the last 30 days how much of a problem did [name of person/you] have with energy and vitality?

Response categories:

  1. None
  2. Mild
  3. Moderate
  4. Severe
  5. Extreme/Cannot Do
Vignettes:
  1. [Anya] works on a farm and is up by 5am. Before leaving the house she fetches water from a well, which is some distance away, and takes the children to school. When she returns in the evening she cooks and does the household chores.
  2. [Margaret] used to be a professional tennis player (sportsperson) but now plays for her enjoyment. She usually plays every day for 2 hours to keep physically fit. In her free time she goes running and also practices swimming.
  3. [Daniel] is very active every day of the week. He practices sports and is involved in various social activities. He also works as a volunteer 3 nights a week counselling young people. He usually likes to rest on Sunday afternoon.
  4. [Sandra] has a very demanding and stressful job and works on average 10 hours a day. When she gets home she cooks, does a few chores and supervises her children’s homework. Her mother takes care of her children every week-end so she can get some rest.
  5. [Paolo] is a writer and works under pressure two weeks a month, sleeping very little and not taking any breaks. At the end of these periods he needs to take one day off from work to recover.
  6. [Hanna] does not do any sports as she lack the energy to do vigorous physical exercise. Occasionally, she enjoys relaxation classes and going for walks in the countryside. She has no problems doing day to day tasks, such as shopping or cleaning.
  7. [Forence] is not a physically active person but enjoys gardening when the weather permits (usually three weekends out of four). Whenever she spends a few hours in the garden, she feels tired afterwards and needs to rest for an hour or so.
  8. [Mariko] is a university student and is very involved in university life. She also studies very hard and has a set of exams every month. After these are over, she has no energy to do anything and needs 2 to 3 days to recover.
  9. [Muriel] has been suffering from a bad cold for 2 weeks. She still feels very weak and has not been able to go back to work. Her mother visits her every day and helps her with the chores that need to be done.
  10. [Andrea] is working for an important firm and works under a lot of pressure. She feels very tired and this is affecting her performance. She is thinking of working part-time as she cannot cope with the workload.
  11. [Angela] feels tired every afternoon, which makes any task that she does a great effort to her. Whenever she does the dishes, tidies up the house or prepare her meals for more than 10 minutes, she needs to sit down and rest.
  12. [Jonathan] is a heavy smoker and is very overweight. He cannot exercise as he gets immediately out of breath. He also gets tired very easily when climbing stairs, walking up a steep road or carrying the shopping bags.
  13. [Tara] has had to resign from work as her fatigue has started affecting her performance. She also has difficulties managing the home, and her husband has hired a housekeeper.
  14. [Conrad] leads a sedentary life because of his heart condition, and gets tired very quickly if he does any physical exercise. He is able to walk slowly at his own pace and for 15 minutes at a time.
  15. [Eleanor] feels tired all day, even though she gets plenty of sleep and rests after lunch. She needs someone to do the shopping and cleaning for her, as she has no energy to do it herself.