Psychometric properties of the Iranian version of the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI)

Abstract

Background: The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) is a public domain questionnaire which measures the degree of psychological fatigue experienced in three dimensions of Burnout: personal (PB), work-related (WB), and client-related Burnout (CB). The present study aims to examine the acceptability, reliability and construct validity of the Iranian version of CBI. Methods: The study population of 750 workers includes educational centers, social work centers, healthcare centers and workers within the industry sector. Data was collected in 2018 through a self- administered questionnaire including the three CBI scales, short form of Iranian psychosocial work environment (COPSOQ) and scales perceived by general and mental health and vitality (SF-12). Forward-backward procedure was adopted to translate the questionnaire from English into Persian. Content validity was evaluated by a panel of experts. To assess the inventory's construct validity, the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is used in order to determine counts of the factors, and the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is used in order to befit the measurement models. The internal consistency and test- retest reliability were assessed by Cronbach’s alpha and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) respectively. Additionally the feasibility of the measure was judged by ceiling and floor effect. Results: The results of EFA identified a significant three-factor structure that had an acceptable compatibility to the model of original CBI questionnaire (The total variance explained was 62.962% ,with 47.597%, 9.647%, 5.717% for factor 1, factor 2 and factor 3). The best fitness in CFA analysis indicated an acceptable fit for the Persian version of CBI (χ2/df =4.386 < 5 ; RMR = 0.054 < 0.1, RMSEA = 0.067 < 0.08 and 90% HI: 0.073, CFI = 0.95 > 0.90, NFI = 0.937 > 0.90, GFI = 0.917 > 0.91, AGFI = 0.89 > 0.90, RFI= 0.92 > 0.9, IFI=0.95< 1 ). The internal consistency (Cronbach’s α values of 0.90 for PB, 0.88 for WB, 0.82 for CB ) and test retest reliability (ICC values ranged from 0.85 to 0.95) were both approved and the results showed no ceiling or floor effect.

Conclusions: Burnout was related to both psychosocial work environment and wellbeing measures in direction and intensity. The items of the three scales show good discrimination capacity, good consistency and homogeneity. The discrimination capacity of the scales is verified through the discrimination index and the different levels between occupations and activities. These results demonstrate that the Iranian version of the CBI is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring burnout.