Development and Validation of Custom Burnout Inventory for Assessing Occupational Burnout among Employees in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Burnout is identified as a psychological syndrome with characteristics of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and professional efficacy. A psychologically challenging work environment leads to burnout followed by occupational stress. Identifying the level of burnout is essential to prevent the risk, improve the performance and maintain the mental wellbeing. In this regard, the study aims to develop a locally adapted burnout inventory to overcome the limitations of the widely used Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) in Sri Lankan context. To address this gap in occupational settings, 18-item inventory was introduced with the three characteristics of burnout. Data were analyzed using psychometric techniques such as Cronbach’s alpha and inter-item correlation were applied to assess reliability. Moreover, the Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin (KMO) was applied to assess sampling adequacy for factor analysis. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), Bartlett’s test of sphericity, eigenvalues and scree plot inspection were conducted to validate the inventory. Overall, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) further tested the model fit. The analyses revealed that the custom inventory demonstrated high reliability with Cronbach’s Alpha values of 0.89 for exhaustion (7 questions), 0.89 for depersonalization (6 questions) and 0.92 for professional efficacy (5 questions) thereby confirming internal consistency. It demonstrated satisfactory inter-item coherence with 0.45-0.80 value. Eigenvalues greater than 1 (7.07, 3.78, 1.16) supported by EFA suggest three clear factor structures consistent with dimensions. CFA including Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.96, Tucker–Lewis Index (TLI) = 0.95 and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = 0.06 also confirmed the model fit. The validated instrument provides a reliable and contextually appropriate measure for assessing burnout among Sri Lankan professionals.