Copenhagen Burnout Inventory

The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) is a 19-item, self-reported measure of burnout. It consists of three subscales: personal burnout, work-related burnout, and client-related burnout. The Personal Exhaustion subscale is a good measure of autistic burnout.

Before you take the test, please read the
Notes section—and then take the test here:

Who the test is designed for

• Adults (age 16+) judged to have an IQ in the normal range (IQ >=80).
• The personal burnout questions are formulated in a way that all human beings can answer.
• The work-related burnout questions assume that the respondent has some form of paid employment.
• The scale on client burnout is only defined for those respondents who worked with clients (*clients can be patients, students, children, inmates, or other recipients).

Versions & translations

• The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory is available in multiple languages. Up to now, translations have taken place in English, Mandarin, French, Japanese, Slovenian, Greek, and Persian.^[1]The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout (Kristensen et al., 2005)
• It has also been validated in a myriad of cultures—including Brazil, Portugal, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand,^[2]Burnout and wellbeing: Testing the Copenhagen burnout inventory in New Zealand teachers (Milfont et al., 2008) Japan,^[3]Overcommitment and high effort are strongly associated with burnout among Japanese nurses (Odagiri et al., 2004) China,^[4]Psychometric properties of the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory-Chinese version (Fong, Ho, & Ng, 2014) Taiwan, Iran,^[5]Translation and Psychometric Properties of the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory in Iranian Nurses (Mahmoudi et al., 2017) Spain,^[6]Validation of the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory to assess professional burnout in Spain (Molinero-Ruiz et al., 2013) Italy, and more.

Taking the test

The CBI consists of 19 statements, giving you 5 choices for each statement (either the first or second set is used):

First set

• Always = 100 points
• Often = 75 points
• Sometimes = 50 points
• Seldom = 25 points
• Never/Almost Never = 0 points

Second set

• To a very high degree = 100 points
• To a high degree = 75 points
• Somewhat = 50 points
• To a low degree = 25 points
• To a very low degree = 0 points

The CBI-P Personal Exhaustion subscale (Questions 1–6) has been found to be a valid preliminary screening tool for autistic burnout.

Please note that the scoring for the test when it is non-randomized has the following scoring statement sets. The CBI on this website is randomized as per the test creators’ instructions.

Subscale 1: Personal burnout

☞ Questions 1–6 (in non-randomized test)

Response categories & scoring (first set):

• Always: 100
• Often: 75
• Sometimes: 50
• Seldom: 25
• Never/almost never: 0

The total score on this subscale is the average of the scores on the items.

Subscale 2: Work-related burnout

☞ Questions 7–13 (in non-randomized test)

Response categories of first 3 questions (second set):

• To a very high degree = 100 points
• To a high degree = 75 points
• Somewhat = 50 points
• To a low degree = 25 points
• To a very low degree = 0 points

Response categories of last 4 questions (first set):

• Always = 100 points
• Often = 75 points
• Sometimes = 50 points
• Seldom = 25 points
• Never/Almost Never = 0 points

Scoring works the same way as on the first subscale—except the last question is reverse-scored.

Subscale 3: Client-related burnout

☞ Questions 14–19 (in non-randomized test)

Response categories of first 4 questions (second set):

• To a very high degree = 100 points
• To a high degree = 75 points
• Somewhat = 50 points
• To a low degree = 25 points
• To a very low degree = 0 points

Response categories of last 2 questions (first set):

• Always = 100 points
• Often = 75 points
• Sometimes = 50 points
• Seldom = 25 points
• Never/Almost Never = 0 points

Scoring works the same way as the previous two subscales; take the average of your summed total.

Scoring

Your score is interpreted as follows:^[7]Prevalence of burnout, depression, anxiety and stress in Australian midwives: a cross-sectional survey (Creedy, 2017)

• Scoring range: 0–100
• Threshold score: 50↑
• Scores of 50–74 = moderate burnout
• Scores of 75–99 = high burnout
• Score of 100 = severe burnout

You will receive a score from 0–100 on each subscale, as well as a total score that is the average of all three.

The authors mention that the Personal Exhaustion subscale is the generic part of the CBI, so it offers a general measure of your physical and emotional exhaustion. This seems to imply that the Work and Client subscales rely on the Personal subscale. In other words, while you score 100 in the Personal burnout category and 0 on the other two, it doesn’t seem possible to score 100 on the Work and Client-related burnout subscales, but 0 on the Personal burnout subscale; if you experience work-related burnout, obviously you experience burnout in general, which will be reflected in your Personal burnout score.

The authors also indicate that their results show that the burnout levels of individuals change substantially over time, so the CBI does not measure stable traits, but degrees of burnout that are subject to change. As such, it may be useful to periodically take the CBI to get a sense of how your burnout has changed.^[8]The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout (Kristensen et al., 2005)

About the subscales

Below is a table with the three CBI subscales and their associated questions, and on the right side are the mean and average scores on each question and subscale, from the people in Kristensen et al.’s study who took the test:^[9]The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout (Kristensen et al., 2005)

Differential CBI subscales

The authors mention that a study on the prospective predictors of burnout supports the differential picture with regard to the three CBI subscales.^[10]Psychosocial Work Characteristics as Predictors for Burnout: Findings From 3Year Follow Up of the PUMA Study (Borritz et al., 2005) In other words, different aspects of your life and your burnout will correlate with one, two, or all three of the CBI subscales. Although this is not relevant to your scores per se, I think it will be interesting to present some examples they found:^[11]The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout (Kristensen et al., 2005)

Average CBI subscale scores

Here are the average scores on the CBI burnout subscales for the 15 main jobs in the PUMA baseline study:^[12]The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout (Kristensen et al., 2005)^[13]Psychosocial Work Characteristics as Predictors for Burnout: Findings From 3Year Follow Up of the PUMA Study (Borritz et al., 2005)

Validity & reliability

How reliable, accurate, valid, and up-to-date is the test?

The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) is a valid, reliable scale to measure burnout. It has:^[14]The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout (Kristensen et al., 2005)

• Good face validity and construct validity; the CBI Personal Burnout subscale showed:
  • A strong positive correlation with the CBI–Work-related Burnout subscale
  • A strong positive correlation with the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory–Exhaustion dimension
  • A strong positive correlation with the Maslach Burnout Inventory–Emotional Exhaustion subscale
• Good internal reliability (Cronbach’s alpha score: 0.91)^[15]Internal Reliability and Validity of Copenhagen Burnout Inventory and Oldenburg Burnout Inventory Compared with Maslach Burnout Inventory among Nigerian Resident Doctors: A Pilot Study (Ogunsuji et al., 2022)
  • Personal burnout: Cronbach’s alpha score: 0.87^[16]The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout (Kristensen et al., 2005)
  • Work-related burnout: Cronbach’s alpha score: 0.87^[17]The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout (Kristensen et al., 2005)
  • Client-related burnout: Cronbach’s alpha score: 0.85^[18]The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout (Kristensen et al., 2005)

The CBI Personal Exhaustion subscale (CBI-P) is a valid preliminary screening tool for autistic burnout, as it measures your burnout stemming from your personal life, distinct from occupational burnout.^[19]Measuring and validating autistic burnout (Mantzalas et al, 2024)

The acceptability and validity of the CBI in different cultures are still under investigation, but so far, research has found the following:^[20]The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout (Kristensen et al., 2005)

• In Japan, significant associations were found between burnout measured with the CBI and high efforts and over-commitment in a sample of nurses.^[21]Overcommitment and high effort are strongly associated with burnout among Japanese nurses (Odagiri et al., 2004)
• In Australia, the CBI was compared with the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) in a sample of dentists, and it was found that the CBI possesses excellent psychometric properties, and seems to be an appropriate measure of burnout in populations of health professionals.^[22]Comparing Two Measures of Burnout Among Dentists in Australia (Winwood & Winefield)

Notes before taking the test

Definitions

Some words that appear to be the same or similar are defined here to differentiate them. Please read these definitions before taking the test, and refer back here during the test if needed.

• Tired – Feeling like you want to sleep
• Physically Exhausted – Not having the energy to do the activities that you are required to do
• Emotionally Exhausted – A complete depletion of emotional energy to the point of not receiving joy from anything
  • For example: Everything may feel like an obligation, tasks may require a heightened effort than previously, and there may be no desire to complete essential tasks. A loss of passion characterizes emotional exhaustion as if the person is surviving each day rather than enjoying and thriving within it. This state differs from depression as it is not necessarily a lowered mood but a depletion of energy
• Worn out – Drained and unable emotionally to deal with problems
• Burnt out – Feeling empty and mentally exhausted, devoid of motivation, and beyond caring

Response interpretation

Autistic people may find the responses that indicate different frequencies to be too subjective or ambiguous to really know which answer fits best. As such, you may find these quantities expressed in percentages helpful:

1. Always/To a very high degree = more than 90% or most of the time
2. Often/To a high degree = about 75% or three-quarters of the time
3. Sometimes/Somewhat = about 50% or half of the time
4. Seldom/To a low degree = about 25% or a quarter of the time
5. Never/Almost Never/To a very low degree = less than 10% of the time

The CBI–P

The CBI–P (the Personal Exhaustion subscale) can be viewed as a separate test from the CBI, and used to test for autistic burnout specifically. If your CBI-P is 50↑ and you are autistic, then you are experiencing autistic burnout.

For the purpose of measuring autistic burnout, you may only want to do the first subscale (questions 1–6) of the test, but it could be useful to measure the other aspects of burnout as well, as they may exacerbate each other. Note however that since the questions are randomized on our website as per the instructions of the authors of the test, it’s not possible to do only the CBI–P section of the test on our website; you will have to do the whole test.

Discussion

Natalie:

CBI scores:

• Personal burnout: 95
• Work-related burnout: 43
• Client-related burnout: 58

I really liked this test for its ability to identify where my burnout was coming from. My scores were 95 for personal exhaustion or autistic burnout, 43 for work-related burnout, and 58 for client-related burnout. Scores above 50 are consistent with burnout. My personal burnout score makes sense as I worry far too much about everyone in my personal life and tend to their needs before mine. Empathic attunement makes it hard for me to care for my own needs while anyone in my life is in distress. My work consists of two main factors—patient interaction and writing on the research. Autism is my passionate interest, so spending time perusing the research is quite enjoyable for me. I love seeing patients. Most clinicians who work with autistic adults have a lot of work because the number of people who are well-educated in adult autism diagnosis is lacking.

I dislike the fact that the scoring is very coarse. I score 95 in personal exhaustion, and Eva scores 76. The authors consider 75–99 as high. I scored very high (100) for five of the six answers and high for one answer, while Eva scored high (75) for all six answers. Even though I scored as high as possible for five of the six answers, I am still only high burnout and not severe. I feel that 90–100 should be severe, as at 90, you are still choosing most of the answers as severe. In addition, if a person answers sometimes and somewhat for all answers, they still go over the threshold. Depending on how a person interprets the questions, somewhat or sometimes seems similar to To a low degree. I believe it is better to consider the terms as percentages (see Response interpretation in the previous section).

Seeing the difference between Eva and myself, I can see where she is getting exhausted, and what could help her make targeted changes to decrease her burnout. I can do the same for myself.

Eva:

CBI scores (July 24):

• Personal burnout: 76
• Work-related burnout: 96
• Client-related burnout: 100

CBI scores (August 20):

• Personal burnout: 75
• Work-related burnout: 86
• Client-related burnout: 83

My work- and client-related burnout scores went down quite considerably, which I think makes sense given that today we’re launching our book, ‘The Ultimate Guide to Autistic Burnout’, so the end of a long and stressful period is finally in sight. In the last months, my mental health has really suffered due to work-related pressures in combination with personal challenges. I feel in the last days I started having a more measured response to things, with a more constructive attitude towards finishing the book; and I’ve had more space for things like doing some gardening with Natalie, which has been nice. Although my personal burnout has virtually remained the same, the change in my general mindset is reflected in my lower scores.

Having said that, even though my scores have decreased quite significantly, they still register as high burnout. I suspect my work- and client-related burnout scores impact my personal burnout score, so it would be interesting to see if my personal burnout score will decrease in the upcoming month or so, now that I feel I have more space in my life. Because one thing I’ve observed in the last months is that feeling so pressured with the responsibilities of the book and maintaining correspondence with my colleagues has significantly impacted my spoons (my physical/mental energy) in general—to the extent that I had no energy left to talk to anyone online; at least not in personal messages, which requires more energy and a sense of responsibility to maintain correspondence than responding to comments.

Just to illustrate that the three aspects of burnout may exacerbate each other. Remember that you have a limited supply of physical and mental energy to spend; and not only does burnout reduce the amount of daily energy in general, but if you find that even just one of the categories takes you a lot more energy, this can negatively impact the other areas as well, as you will have less energy left for the other categories.

This makes me realize though, we have to be careful with how we contextualize the personal burnout category. Note that there is only one question that relates to friends and family specifically. The other questions in this category seem more general. This makes sense with how the authors of the test refer to this section as being the generic part of the CBI, and state that it might as well be called ‘fatigue’ or ‘exhaustion’. I want to emphasize that while the work-related burnout score is a distinct subscale, the personal exhaustion subscale is not mutually exclusive with the other two; it shows some overlap. In other words, while you may score high on personal burnout but low in the other two categories, I don’t think it’s possible to score low in the personal burnout category but high in the other two. The fact that the personal subscale measures burnout in general, the two other subscales necessitate a non-zero score in the personal burnout category.

Realizing that, I see two things which I feel would make this test better:

• I think there should be more questions specific to one’s personal life; questions pertaining to your energy for interacting with strangers (e.g., at the store during checkout), or your pets, or your energy for pursuing hobbies. Do your hobbies still energize you, or do you find everything is draining now?
• The authors state that personal burnout is defined as “the degree of physical and psychological fatigue and exhaustion experienced by the person”, and use that as justification for their decision not to distinguish between physical and psychological fatigue or exhaustion. I see their reasoning as circular, and I think it would actually be useful to make the distinction; you can still offer a total Personal burnout score as well. But I think it could be useful to find out whether your burnout affects you physically and emotionally in equal measure or not.

Kendall:

CBI scores:

• Personal burnout: 46
• Work-related burnout: 43
• Client-related burnout: 0

Part 1: Personal burnout – I found the coarseness of the response scale problematic. The quantized step between Sometimes and Often or Seldom made my choices feel consistently off the mark.

Part 2:- Work-related burnout – Responses were hard to choose because of the response scales—there is a yawning chasm between Somewhat and To a high degree or To a low degree. Further, it’s the same dilemma as in Part 1 concerning the difference between Sometimes and Often or Seldom—I felt forced into not-quite-so-accurate responses.

Part 3: Client-related burnout – This section doesn’t apply to me currently, but it is no less illuminating. There was a time when all of my responses would have been To a high degree or To a very high degree. I’ve yet to return to those conditions because I decided never to do so, and this section highlights the soundness of that choice.

Nevertheless, the overall score of 45 is more or less accurate.

Hailey:

CBI scores:

• Personal burnout: 58
• Work-related burnout: 46
• Client-related burnout: 8

The results did not surprise me; I can recognize burnout in my daily life, particularly in the tasks I’m unable to manage. I don’t attribute this burnout to my work or those I interact with during work because I interact with clients predominantly through writing.

I was surprised that most of the personal burnout questions seemed like different wordings of extremely similar concepts—such as emotional/physical exhaustion, “feeling tired”, and “feeling worn out”; these are facets of the same or at least a similar experience.

I wish the wording for the final category (Client-related burnout) were clearer; in my case, as a medical assistant, there are very obvious clients. However, for those in different fields or periods of their lives, when responding, what they should consider as “clients” may be unclear, impacting their ability to derive an insightful score.

The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory

For each statement below, choose one response that best describes how strongly that statement applies to you:

If you are looking for an autism assessment,
Dr. Natalie Engelbrecht can offer help!
You can find more information here:

Online autism assessments