Harland, Matthew Robert, Parslow, Roxanne Morin, Anderson, Nina et al. · BMJ paediatrics open · 2019 · DOI
This study asked children with ME/CFS and their parents what 'recovery' would look like for them. Researchers found that recovery means different things to different people—some wanted to return to their old activity levels, others focused on having more flexibility in daily routines and not experiencing crashes after activities. Importantly, recovery was about much more than just feeling less tired; it was about rebuilding their lives and returning to normal activities like school and socializing.
Understanding how patients and families define recovery is critical for developing meaningful treatment goals and outcome measures in ME/CFS care. This study highlights that clinical recovery measures should align with patients' lived experiences and individualized priorities rather than relying solely on symptom metrics, potentially improving patient-centered care.
This study does not identify which interventions actually lead to recovery, nor does it establish prevalence of different recovery definitions across the broader paediatric ME/CFS population—findings are specific to one specialist service and may not generalize. The study explores perceptions only; it does not validate whether these perceived recovery markers correlate with objective functional improvements.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Harland, Matthew Robert, Parslow, Roxanne Morin, Anderson, Nina, Byrne, Danielle, & Crawley, Esther (2019). Paediatric chronic fatigue syndrome patients' and parents' perceptions of recovery.. BMJ paediatrics open. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2019-000525
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-harland-2019-paediatric-chronic,
author = {Harland, Matthew Robert and Parslow, Roxanne Morin and Anderson, Nina and Byrne, Danielle and Crawley, Esther},
title = {Paediatric chronic fatigue syndrome patients' and parents' perceptions of recovery.},
journal = {BMJ paediatrics open},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.1136/bmjpo-2019-000525},
note = {PubMed: 32500105},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/harland-2019-paediatric-chronic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/harland-2019-paediatric-chronic
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