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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Tags: Psychology, Psychometrics
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Burnout is often described as exhaustion, but the source of that exhaustion matters. A person may be worn down by life outside work, by the job itself, or by repeated direct contact with patients, students, clients, customers, residents, members, or other people they serve. Treating all of those patterns as one flat number can hide the part of the situation that needs attention.

The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, or CBI, was built around three exhaustion scales rather than one total score. Personal burnout asks about general physical and psychological exhaustion. Work burnout asks whether exhaustion is perceived as related to work. Client-related burnout asks whether direct people-facing work is carrying the strain.

CBI personal, work, and client-related burnout are scored as three separate 0 to 100 scale means.

This separation helps prevent a common mistake. High personal burnout can fit sleep debt, illness, caregiving, grief, financial pressure, or strain outside work. High work burnout points more directly toward workload, schedule, staffing, interruptions, role conflict, control over the day, or other job conditions. High client-related burnout points toward the emotional and practical cost of direct service contact.

Several details change how a CBI profile should be read:

  • Time frame: answers should reflect a recent pattern, not one unusually bad shift or one unusually easy week.
  • Attribution: personal burnout is broader than occupational burnout, while work and client-related burnout ask where exhaustion seems to come from.
  • Exposure: people-facing strain depends on intensity, frequency, emotional demand, and recovery after direct contact.
  • Recovery conditions: similar job demands can feel different when sleep, health, support, autonomy, and staffing differ.

The World Health Organization describes burn-out as an occupational phenomenon rather than a medical condition, tied to chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. CBI scores can still support a clinical, supervisory, occupational-health, or personal planning conversation, but they cannot diagnose depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, chronic illness, or unsafe work conditions by themselves.

The safest use of a CBI profile is to treat it as structured evidence for discussion. The three means show whether exhaustion is concentrated, broad, or changing over time; the numbers still need to be read beside symptoms, workload, recovery, health, safety, and practical constraints.

How to Use This Tool:

Complete all 19 CBI items from one recent pattern. The useful result is the shape of the three domain means, not one combined burnout total.

  1. Select Start CBI assessment and answer from your usual recent experience rather than a single unusually hard or easy day.
  2. Use the wording shown for each item. Some questions use frequency choices from Never / almost never to Always; others use degree choices from To a very low degree to To a very high degree.
  3. Watch the progress bar and item navigator. If the display has not reached 19 / 19 answered, the summary, domain means, and chart are intentionally hidden.
    The report waits for all 19 answers so each domain mean uses a complete denominator.
  4. When the report appears, read Personal burnout, Work burnout, and Client-related burnout first. Those three domain means are the main CBI result.
  5. Use Highest domain, Spread, 50-point count, and Highest vs PUMA to decide whether the burden is concentrated or broad.
  6. Open the Burnout distribution map, domain score table, highest-burden items, and answer review to see which responses are driving the profile.
  7. Copy a result link, chart, CSV, or DOCX only when the answer details are appropriate to share.

Interpreting Results:

Start with the highest domain and the 50-point count. One elevated domain points toward a focused review. Two or three domains at or above 50 suggest a wider exhaustion pattern that should not be explained away as one bad week, one difficult contact, or one personal habit.

Result pattern Practical reading Useful follow-up check
Personal burnout highestGeneral exhaustion is leading the profile.Review sleep, recovery, health, caregiving, grief, and work spillover.
Work burnout highestThe job itself looks like the clearest source of depletion.Review workload, schedule, role clarity, staffing, interruptions, and control over work.
Client-related burnout highestDirect 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 50Exhaustion is not sitting in one narrow area.Compare work conditions and recovery conditions together before choosing one explanation.
All domains below 50The 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 an attention reference, not a diagnosis. The PUMA means are comparison anchors from a human-service professional sample. They can orient the profile, but they are not universal targets for every job, country, organization, or role.

A high score should not be treated as proof of one cause. Verify the highest domain against the highest-burden items and answer review. If the profile looks surprising, check for a mistaken response, a different time frame, or one answer based on a temporary event rather than the same recent pattern.

Technical Details:

CBI scoring converts each response to a value on a 0 to 100 exhaustion scale, then averages converted item scores within each domain. Higher values always mean more burnout burden after reverse scoring is applied where needed.

The local report requires all 19 items before showing a result. That is stricter than partial-response scoring and avoids presenting domain means from incomplete answer sets.

Formula Core

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

Item score = 25 ⁢ x Reverse item score = 100 - 25 ⁢ x Domain mean = ∑ i=1 n si n

Here, x is the response position from 0 to 4, and s is the converted item score. 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.

Response position Frequency wording Degree wording Converted score
LowestNever / almost neverTo a very low degree0
LowSeldomTo a low degree25
MiddleSometimesSomewhat50
HighOftenTo a high degree75
HighestAlwaysTo a very high degree100
Domain Items Item mix Scoring note
Personal burnout6Six frequency itemsMeasures general physical and psychological exhaustion.
Work burnout7Three degree items and four frequency itemsMeasures exhaustion perceived as related to work; item 13 is reverse-scored.
Client-related burnout6Four degree items and two frequency itemsMeasures exhaustion perceived as related to direct work with clients or similar recipients.

The report adds comparison aids around the three domain means. Cross-domain mean averages the three domain means for orientation only. Profile rounds each domain mean into compact P, W, and C codes. PUMA gap subtracts the relevant PUMA mean from the current domain score.

Element How it is built How to use it
PUMA meansPersonal 35.9, work 33.0, and client-related 30.9.Compare with caution as sample anchors, not universal norms.
50-point countCounts domains with means greater than or equal to 50.Shows whether the burden is isolated or spread across domains.
SpreadHighest domain mean minus lowest domain mean.Shows how sharply one domain stands out.
Highest-burden itemsSorts answered items by converted score, breaking ties by item order.Turns a domain score into specific statements to review.

Limitations and Privacy Notes:

CBI is a self-report assessment of exhaustion burden. It can support a practical conversation, but it cannot diagnose a medical or mental health condition, prove causation, or choose a workplace intervention by itself.

  • High personal burnout can overlap with sleep loss, depression, anxiety, grief, illness, caregiving, or other non-work stressors.
  • High work or client-related burnout can point toward workplace risk, but the score alone cannot identify which staffing, schedule, workload, or boundary change is needed.
  • Repeat comparisons are most meaningful when the same recent time frame, role context, and people-facing exposure are used.
  • Responses are scored in the browser. Copied result links, downloaded charts, CSV files, and DOCX exports can carry sensitive answer details outside the page.

Worked Examples:

General exhaustion leads the profile

A completed assessment with frequent tiredness, physical exhaustion, and feeling worn out returns Personal burnout at 62.5/100, Work burnout at 39.3/100, and Client-related burnout at 20.8/100. Highest domain is personal burnout, so the first review should include recovery, sleep, health, caregiving load, and non-work strain.

Work burnout crosses the attention line

A person who reports high emotional exhaustion from work and morning exhaustion before work might see Personal burnout at 45.8/100, Work burnout at 57.1/100, and Client-related burnout at 33.3/100. The 50-point count is 1/3, so workload, schedule, role pressure, and control over the workday are better first checks than broad lifestyle advice alone.

People-facing strain stands out

A teacher, nurse, support staff member, or service employee might return Personal burnout at 37.5/100, Work burnout at 50.0/100, and Client-related burnout at 58.3/100. Client-related burnout is highest, but Work burnout is also at the 50-point line, so review both direct-contact strain and broader job demands.

A missing answer blocks the report

If the progress display says 18 / 19 answered, the domain means and Burnout distribution map are not final. Select the missing item in the navigator and complete it before using Highest domain, 50-point count, PUMA gap, or highest-burden item guidance.

Advanced Tips:

  • Keep the meaning of Clients consistent across repeat checks, even if your actual role uses patients, students, customers, members, or another term.
  • Use 50-point count as an attention cue, not as a diagnostic threshold.
  • Compare PUMA gap only as an orientation anchor; it is not a universal standard for every workforce.
  • Check item 13 when work burnout seems unexpectedly high or low, because it is reverse-scored.
  • Save exports only when they help a real follow-up conversation, since they can include sensitive self-report details.

FAQ:

Is there one official CBI total?

No. The CBI is read through Personal burnout, Work burnout, and Client-related burnout. Cross-domain mean is only an orientation aid in this report.

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. Use it to decide which domain and answers deserve closer review.

Why is one work item reverse-scored?

The item about having enough energy for family and friends points away from exhaustion. Reverse scoring keeps higher Work burnout values aligned with greater burden.

What if the word clients does not fit my role?

Read clients as the people you serve directly, such as patients, students, customers, members, residents, or similar recipients. Keep that meaning consistent when comparing repeat results.

Do my answers leave the browser?

The scoring runs in the browser after the page loads. Your answers can leave the page if you copy a result link, download files, export DOCX, or share saved output with someone else.

What should I check 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 the item, then reread the domain means and highest-burden items.

Glossary:

Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI)
A 19-item burnout assessment that separates exhaustion into personal, work, and client-related scale means.
Personal burnout
General physical and psychological exhaustion, regardless of whether the person attributes it to work.
Work burnout
Physical and psychological exhaustion that the person perceives as related to work.
Client-related burnout
Exhaustion perceived as related to direct work with clients or similar recipients.
PUMA
The Project on Burnout, Motivation and Job Satisfaction, used here as the source of comparison means for the three domains.
Reverse scoring
A scoring adjustment that turns a protective answer into the same direction as the exhaustion scale.
50-point line
An attention reference on the 0 to 100 CBI scale, used by the report to count elevated domains.

References: