Burnout Assessment CBIfree self-assessment

About this assessment

The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, or CBI, was developed by Denmark's National Research Centre for the Working Environment and published in 2005. It understands burnout as prolonged physical and psychological fatigue and exhaustion, and separates it into three sources: how exhausted you feel overall, how much your work contributes, and how draining it feels to work with clients or service users. This distinction is useful because 'I am exhausted' can mean very different things. Some people are overwhelmed by workload, some spend long periods caring for other people, and some still feel completely depleted even after taking time off. Knowing where the exhaustion seems to come from can be more useful than simply knowing that burnout may be present.

What does it look at?

The questionnaire looks separately at three areas of fatigue and exhaustion. Personal burnout reflects how tired you feel overall regardless of cause. Work-related burnout reflects how much your work itself contributes. Client-related burnout reflects exhaustion associated with working directly with clients, students, patients, or other service users. Each area is scored separately from 0 to 100 and there is no single overall total. A score of 50 or above is commonly used in research as a reference point for high burnout.

This assessment may suit you if...

• You have very little energy left for anything after work and are not sure where the problem is coming from.
• Your work involves a lot of direct contact with people and even interacting with others has started to feel exhausting.
• You want to know whether you have simply had a busy period or whether your body and mind may genuinely need more recovery.