Development and validation of an occupational burnout inventory

Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate the reliability and validity of an occupational burnout inventory. Methods: Study subjects were participants of a workplace health survey conducted by the City Government of Taipei, including 2891 male and 2704 female paid employees. Among them, 52% were employed in service sectors, 48% in industrial sectors. A self-administered questionnaire was used that included four subscales - personal burnout, work-related burnout, client-related burnout, and over-commitment to work. Also included were measures for work conditions, self-rated health status, perceived work stress and job satisfaction. Results: Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the four subscales were all above 0.84. Exploratory factor analysis showed that all items of the "personal burnout" and "work-related burnout" subscales loaded on the first factor, while items of the "client-related burnout" and "over-commitment to work" subscale closely corresponded to the second and the third factor, respectively. The four dimensions of our occupational burnout inventory correlated with burnout-related factors in expected directions; for example, the "work burnout" scores for men and women were both positively associated with job demands (correlation coefficient=0.49 for men and women). perception of job stress (0.50 for men, 0.53 for women) and levels of psychological distress (0.68 for men. 0.65 for women), and were negatively associated with self-rated health status (-0.36 for men, -0.38 for women) and job satisfaction (-0.40 for men. -0.45 for women). These associations were consistent with prior hypotheses. Conclusions: The occupational burnout inventory in this study was found to be a reliable and valid tool for assessment of burnout problems. It can be applied as a screening tool in the workplace, and can help to identify high-risk groups for burnout as well as to improve employees' health consciousness.