Marks, Megan R, Huws, Jaci C, Whitehead, Liz · Journal of health psychology · 2016 · DOI
This study interviewed 10 healthcare professionals who treat children and teenagers with ME/CFS to understand how they approach the condition. Because ME/CFS is not yet fully understood scientifically, doctors often rely on their past experiences to decide how to treat young patients. What doctors believe about ME/CFS can affect the labels they give patients and what treatments they recommend.
This research highlights a critical gap in healthcare: the lack of clear biomedical understanding of ME/CFS means young patients may receive inconsistent diagnoses and treatments depending on their clinician's beliefs and experiences. Understanding healthcare providers' perspectives is essential for improving clinical care pathways and ensuring children with ME/CFS receive evidence-based, consistent management.
This study does not prove what causes ME/CFS or establish definitive diagnostic criteria. It also does not demonstrate that clinicians' uncertainty actually leads to worse patient outcomes—it only explores how uncertainty influences clinical thinking and decision-making. The findings reflect the views of 10 professionals and may not represent all healthcare settings or countries.
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
Marks, Megan R, Huws, Jaci C, & Whitehead, Liz (2016). Working with uncertainty: A grounded theory study of health-care professionals' experiences of working with children and adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome.. Journal of health psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105315583367
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-marks-2016-working-uncertainty,
author = {Marks, Megan R and Huws, Jaci C and Whitehead, Liz},
title = {Working with uncertainty: A grounded theory study of health-care professionals' experiences of working with children and adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Journal of health psychology},
year = {2016},
doi = {10.1177/1359105315583367},
note = {PubMed: 25957226},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/marks-2016-working-uncertainty},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/marks-2016-working-uncertainty
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