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.