Survey instrument
Baxter et al. (2011) developed the BARF to assess the severity of nausea
in children aged between 4 and 18 years. The BARF scale has been
validated in postsurgical, oncology department, and emergency department
patients. The scale has construct, content, and convergent validity as
an instrument to measure nausea in children, which helps clinicians to
recognize and treat nausea and vomiting in pediatric patients more
efficiently. The BARF consists of six faces, is an easy-to-use screening
tool that provides an objective measure of nausea in young children and
can be useful for assessing nausea in a variety of pediatric scenarios19,20. Nausea severity was classified based on the
BARF scale as mild nausea=1–2; moderate nausea=3–5, and severe
nausea=>6. Food tolerance/intolerance was classified based
on nutrition intake assessment as mild=food intake below 50–75%,
moderate=25–50%, and severe=0–25%, relative to normal food intake.