Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) Assessment

Burnout distribution brief

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This 19-item CBI check keeps the original Copenhagen Burnout Inventory scoring and turns the answers into the three standard burnout scale means.

Answer from your recent pattern rather than from one unusually good or bad day.
The response wording switches automatically between the original frequency and degree items.
Your responses stay in this browser unless you export them.

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Burnout distribution map

What this result suggests

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Domain	Score	PUMA mean	Gap	50-point line	What it currently suggests	Copy
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Answer review

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Burnout is usually discussed as exhaustion from sustained work stress, but exhaustion does not always come from the same place. A person may feel depleted across ordinary life, mainly worn down by work itself, or most strained by direct contact with clients, patients, students, customers, or members.

The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, or CBI, separates those patterns into three scale means: personal burnout, work burnout, and client-related burnout. That structure is the strength of the instrument. It avoids forcing every answer into one official total and instead asks where exhaustion is concentrated.

CBI personal, work, and client-related scale means are read on a shared 0 to 100 exhaustion scale

CBI scores are self-report evidence of exhaustion burden, not a medical diagnosis. A high work-burnout score can point toward workload, schedule, staffing, role design, conflict, or emotional labor. A high personal-burnout score can also reflect illness, caregiving, grief, poor sleep, or pressure outside work.

The World Health Organization places burn-out in the occupational context and does not classify it as a medical condition. CBI results can help a person, team, clinician, or occupational-health contact discuss exhaustion more precisely, but persistent fatigue, mood symptoms, safety risk, or impaired functioning may need support beyond a questionnaire score.

How to Use This Tool:

Complete all 19 CBI items from the same recent pattern. The report appears only after every response is selected.

Select Start CBI assessment and answer from your usual recent experience rather than one unusually hard or unusually easy day.
Let the response wording change with the item. Some questions use frequency wording from Never / almost never to Always; others use degree wording from To a very low degree to To a very high degree.
Use the progress bar and item navigator if the result does not appear. The summary stays hidden until the progress count reaches 19 / 19 answered.
Read Personal burnout, Work burnout, and Client-related burnout first. These three domain means are the formal CBI result.
Use Burnout distribution map and the domain score table to compare domain means with the 50-point reference and the PUMA anchors shown in the report.
Check the highest-burden items and answer review before saving or sharing the result. They often explain why one domain is higher than the others.

If a response was clicked by mistake, return to that item and change it. The domain means, chart, highest-burden items, and recommendation text update from the completed answer set.

Interpreting Results:

Start with the highest domain and the number of domains at or above 50. One high domain suggests a more focused exhaustion pattern. Two or three domains at or above 50 suggest a broader burden that should not be reduced to one personal habit or one isolated work event.

Common CBI result patterns
Pattern	Practical reading	Useful check
Personal burnout highest	General exhaustion is leading the profile.	Review recovery, sleep, health, caregiving load, and whether work strain is spilling outside work.
Work burnout highest	The job itself looks like the clearest source of depletion.	Review workload, schedule, staffing, role clarity, interruptions, and morning dread about the workday.
Client-related burnout highest	People-facing work is carrying the most strain.	Review exposure intensity, difficult interactions, handoffs, emotional boundaries, and recovery after direct contact.
Two or three domains at or above 50	Exhaustion is not sitting in one narrow area.	Review work conditions and recovery conditions together.
All domains below 50	The profile is below the attention line, but the highest domain can still be a watch point.	Repeat under similar conditions if the same domain keeps rising.

The 50-point line is a practical reference, not a diagnosis. The PUMA values are comparison anchors from a human-service worker sample, not targets for every occupation, country, or team.

A high score should not be overread as proof of one cause. Compare the highest domain with the highest-burden items and the real work or life context. If the score seems surprising, inspect the answer review for a mistaken response or a question answered from a different time frame.

Technical Details:

CBI scoring converts every response to a 0 to 100 value and averages the converted values within each domain. The instrument does not require one overall total. The three domain means carry the formal interpretation because personal, work-related, and client-related exhaustion can move differently.

Frequency and degree items share the same numeric line: the lowest response scores 0, the middle response scores 50, and the highest response scores 100. Work item 13 is reverse-scored because having enough energy for family and friends points away from work burnout. Reversing that item keeps higher final work-burnout values aligned with greater exhaustion burden.

Formula Core

Each domain mean is the average of converted item scores in that domain.

Domain mean = \frac{\sum_{i = 1}^{n} s_{i}}{n}

Here, s is each converted 0 to 100 item score and n is the number of answered items in the domain. For example, six personal-burnout item scores of 50, 75, 50, 25, 75, 50 sum to 325, so Personal burnout is 325 / 6 = 54.2/100 after one-decimal rounding.

CBI response conversion rules
Response position	Frequency wording	Degree wording	Score
Lowest	Never / almost never	To a very low degree	0
Low	Seldom	To a low degree	25
Middle	Sometimes	Somewhat	50
High	Often	To a high degree	75
Highest	Always	To a very high degree	100

CBI domain construction
Domain	Items	Response mix	What it measures
Personal burnout	6	Six frequency items	General physical and psychological exhaustion.
Work burnout	7	Three degree items and four frequency items	Exhaustion perceived as related to work, with item 13 reverse-scored.
Client-related burnout	6	Four degree items and two frequency items	Exhaustion tied to direct people-facing work.

The report adds comparison aids around the three means. Cross-domain mean summarizes the current profile for orientation only. Profile rounds the three domain means into a compact label. PUMA gap subtracts each PUMA mean from the current domain score.

CBI interpretation aids
Report element	How it is built	How to use it
50-point count	Counts domains with mean scores at or above 50.	Shows whether exhaustion is concentrated or broader.
PUMA gap	Current domain mean minus the PUMA anchor for that domain.	Provides a comparison cue, not a diagnostic rule.
Highest-burden items	Sorts item scores from highest to lower, with item order breaking ties.	Turns a domain score into specific discussion points.
Burnout distribution map	Plots current domain means against PUMA anchors.	Shows profile shape while the table preserves exact values.

Limitations:

CBI is a self-report assessment of exhaustion burden. It does not diagnose a medical or mental health condition, and it does not prove that one cause explains the score.

High personal burnout can overlap with sleep loss, depression, anxiety, grief, illness, caregiving, or other stressors.
High work or client-related burnout can point to workplace risk, but the score alone cannot identify which organizational change is needed.
Repeat comparisons are most meaningful when the same recent time frame and similar work context are used.
Copied links, chart files, CSV downloads, and DOCX exports can preserve sensitive answer details outside the assessment.

Worked Examples:

Personal burnout leads

A completed run shows Personal burnout at 62.5/100, Work burnout at 39.3/100, and Client-related burnout at 20.8/100. The highest domain is personal burnout, so the result should include recovery, sleep, health, and non-work strain rather than assuming direct client work is the main driver.

Work burnout crosses the 50-point line

Another run returns 45.8/100 personal, 57.1/100 work, and 33.3/100 client-related burnout. The 50-point count is 1/3. The follow-up should focus on work demands, schedule, staffing, and role pressure before treating the result as general fatigue.

People-facing strain is highest

A teacher-like profile shows Personal burnout at 37.5/100, Work burnout at 50.0/100, and Client-related burnout at 58.3/100. Direct people-facing strain leads, but work burnout is also at the attention line. That points toward boundary, exposure, and workload review together.

No report yet

If the progress display says 18 / 19 answered, the domain means and map are not final. Complete the missing item before using Highest domain, 50-point count, or highest-burden item guidance.

FAQ:

Is there one official CBI total?

No. The CBI is interpreted through three scale means: Personal burnout, Work burnout, and Client-related burnout. Cross-domain mean is only an orientation aid.

Why is one work item reverse-scored?

The energy-outside-work item points in the opposite direction from exhaustion. Reversing it means higher final work-burnout scores consistently mean greater exhaustion burden.

Does a score at or above 50 mean a diagnosis?

No. The 50-point line is an attention reference on the 0 to 100 scale. It should trigger closer review of the domain, the high-scoring items, and the real work or recovery context.

Why can I change the people-facing label?

The client-related scale can be worded for clients, patients, students, customers, or members. The label changes the wording and result language, not the scoring rule.

What should I do if a domain score seems wrong?

Use the answer review to find a mistaken response or a question answered from a different time frame. Correct it, then reread the domain means and highest-burden items.

References:

The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout, Work & Stress, 2005.
Copenhagen Burnout Inventory normative data and PUMA results, National Research Centre for the Working Environment, 2004.
Burn-out an occupational phenomenon, World Health Organization.