Abstract
Burnout as a concept indicative of a work-related state of mental exhaustion is recognized around the globe. Numerous studies showed that burnout has negative consequences for both individuals and organizations but also for society at large, especially in welfare states where sickness absence and work incapacitation are covered by social funds. This underlines the importance of a valid and reliable tool that can be used to assess employee burnout levels. Although the Maslach Burnout Inventory is by far the most frequently used questionnaire for assessing burnout, it is associated with several shortcomings and has been criticized on theoretical as well as empirical grounds. Thus, there is a need for an alternative questionnaire with a strong conceptual basis and proper psychometric qualities. This challenge has been taken up by introducing the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT), according to which burnout is conceived as a work-related state of exhaustion among employees, characterized by extreme tiredness, reduced ability to regulate cognitive and emotional processes, and mental distancing. Given that the BAT is a new measure of burnout, its psychometric properties need to be evaluated. This paper focuses on an evaluation of the internal construct validity of the BAT using Rasch analysis in two random samples (n = 800, each) drawn from larger representative samples of the working population of the Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium). The BAT has sound psychometric properties and fulfils the measurement criteria according to the Rasch model. The BAT score reflects the scoring structure indicated by the developers of the scale and the BAT’s four subscales can be summarized into a single burnout score. The BAT score also works invariantly for women and men, younger and older respondents, and across both countries. Hence, the BAT can be used in organizations for screening and identifying employees who are at risk of burnout.
Highlights
Burnout—a metaphor referring to a work-related state of mental exhaustion—was first used in the Unites States at the end of the 1970s [1]
The Smith’s test confirmed the presence of multidimensionality as the percentage of significant t-tests was 20.9 (CI 18.2;23.9) and confirmed the patterns observed in the correlation matrix
The first two aims were, achieved, as the results of the current study indicate that: a) the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT) consists of four subscales, and that b) these can be combined into a single burnout score
Summary
Burnout—a metaphor referring to a work-related state of mental exhaustion—was first used in the Unites States at the end of the 1970s [1]. Burnout is associated with poor physical and mental health of employees, such as type-2 diabetes, cardio-vascular disease, anxiety and depression [2] In addition it leads to high replacement costs due to turnover and sickness absence [3] and work incapacitation [4], and to poor business outcomes in terms of job performance [5], safety [6], productivity [7] and quality of care [8]. In a number of European countries, including Belgium and the Netherlands, burnout is recognized as an occupational disease or work-related disorder [9]. This underlines the importance of a valid and reliable tool that can be used to assess employee burnout levels
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