The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: exhaustion at the core
The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) measures fatigue and exhaustion in three areas of life. Danish researchers built it as an open, focused alternative to the classic burnout measures.
Where the scale comes from
The concept of burnout took shape in the 1970s and was consolidated by psychologist Christina Maslach, who described it in three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment (Maslach & Jackson, 1981). Her questionnaire became the most widely used in the world, but it drew criticism, including for mixing the core of burnout with its possible consequences and for restricted commercial use.
In 2005 Tage Kristensen and colleagues at Denmark's National Institute of Occupational Health published the CBI, developed in a large study of human-service workers (Kristensen et al., 2005). The inventory puts fatigue and exhaustion at the centre and measures them on three scales: personal burnout (exhaustion in general), work-related burnout and client-related burnout. Answers are converted to a 0–100 scale.
What the research says
In the original study the three scales showed high internal consistency and related as expected to sickness absence, sleep problems and intention to quit (Kristensen et al., 2005). Since then the CBI has been translated and tested in many countries and professions, from healthcare to education.
In 2019 the World Health Organization included burnout in ICD-11 as an occupational phenomenon rather than a medical condition: the result of chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed, marked by exhaustion, mental distance from one's job and reduced professional efficacy.
Debates
There's an important debate about the overlap between burnout and depression: reviews show the two correlate strongly and share symptoms, and some researchers question whether burnout is a distinct condition (Bianchi, Schonfeld & Laurent, 2015). There are also no universal cut-offs for the CBI; average scores above 50 are often used in research as a sign of a high level, but not as a diagnosis.
Limitations
The result shows how exhausted you've been feeling, not why. Exhaustion can come from overwork, health problems, caring for others or depression, and the questionnaire can't tell these apart. A high score is not a diagnosis, and a low score doesn't mean your workplace is healthy. If exhaustion persists, talk to a health professional.
How Ethea adapts the model
Ethea presents the CBI items with the original response options and follows the 0–100 scoring logic published by the authors, showing indicative ranges. This questionnaire was not created by Ethea: credit goes to Kristensen and colleagues. In the results we separate general tiredness from work-related tiredness, to help you think about where to act.
Ethea is not affiliated with the inventory's authors or with the Danish institute where it was developed.
References
Links with a DOI go to the original article. Where no DOI is given, the link opens a Google Scholar search.
- Kristensen, T. S., Borritz, M., Villadsen, E., & Christensen, K. B. (2005). The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout. Work & Stress, 19(3), 192–207. DOI: 10.1080/02678370500297720(opens in a new tab)
- Maslach, C., & Jackson, S. E. (1981). The measurement of experienced burnout. Journal of Occupational Behaviour, 2(2), 99–113. DOI: 10.1002/job.4030020205(opens in a new tab)
- Bianchi, R., Schonfeld, I. S., & Laurent, E. (2015). Burnout–depression overlap: A review. Clinical Psychology Review, 36, 28–41. Search Google Scholar(opens in a new tab)
- World Health Organization (2019). Burn-out an "occupational phenomenon": International Classification of Diseases. WHO news release, 28 May 2019. Search Google Scholar(opens in a new tab)