Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI)
Measures burnout across personal, work, and client domains
Burned out - or just tired? The CBI separates burnout into three clear buckets: how you feel about yourself, about your work, and about the people you deal with. 19 items, public domain (free to use), about 5-8 minutes. Scores above 50 indicate moderate-to-high burnout.
The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) asks a different question than most burnout scales. Instead of assuming burnout comes from work alone, it splits the concept into three separate buckets: how you feel in general (personal burnout), how you feel about your job (work-related burnout), and how you feel about the people you deal with at work (client-related burnout).
This is what makes the CBI useful. If you are drained by patient demands but fine with your actual workload, only the client score will show it. If the job itself is the problem, it is the work score that spikes. The personal section picks up the kind of exhaustion that does not go away after a weekend.
Developed by Kristensen, Borritz, Villadsen & Christensen (2005) in a Danish study of human service workers. Public domain, no permission needed. Each item scored 0-100; scores above 50 on any subscale indicate moderate-to-high burnout in that area.
Quick stats:
- Internal consistency: alpha = 0.85-0.87 across subscales
- Test-retest reliability: r = 0.70-0.87 (2-year interval)
- 19 items, 3 subscales
- Public domain
Scoring Guide
Dimensional scoring. 19 items converted to 0-100 scale. Three dimensions: Personal (1-6), Work (7-13), Client (14-19). Dimension means are compared. Cutoff >=50 indicates moderate-to-high burnout.Result Interpretation
After completing the 19 questions, you'll receive an immediate, detailed report with:
- Your score — calculated automatically based on your responses
- Score interpretation — what your score means in practical terms
- Dimension breakdown — separate scores for each sub-scale
- Context — how your results compare to general population norms where available
All results are displayed on screen. No account or login needed.