CBI
Copenhagen Burnout Inventory
A 19-item self-report measure of burnout across three domains.
Questions ask about burnout in your personal life, at work, and with clients. Response options vary between questions.
About the CBI
The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory was developed by Kristensen, Borritz, Villadsen, and Christensen (2005) as an alternative to the Maslach Burnout Inventory. It separates burnout into three distinct domains: personal (general exhaustion), work-related (fatigue linked to your job), and client-related (exhaustion from working with people). This three-domain structure makes it more useful for identifying where burnout is concentrated.
19 items with two scale types: frequency (Always to Never) and degree (To a very high degree to To a very low degree). Takes about 5–10 minutes.
Scoring
Each response maps to 0, 25, 50, 75, or 100 points. Item 11 is reverse-scored. Subscale scores are averaged; the overall score is the average across all items. Severity bands: below 50 = no burnout, 50–74 = moderate, 75–99 = high, 100 = severe.
Burnout & autism
The Personal Exhaustion subscale (questions 1–6) has been found to be a valid preliminary screening tool for autistic burnout. Autistic individuals often experience chronic workplace burnout due to sensory overload, masking demands, and communication barriers that the CBI can help quantify.
Reliability
Overall Cronbach’s α = 0.91. Subscale reliability: Personal α = 0.87, Work α = 0.87, Client α = 0.85.
Important: The CBI measures burnout, not autism. However, burnout and autistic burnout share overlapping symptoms. If you suspect autistic burnout specifically, also consider the ABO measure.
Kristensen, T. S., Borritz, M., Villadsen, E., & Christensen, K. B. (2005). The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory: A new tool for the assessment of burnout. Work & Stress, 19(3), 192–207.