science

Maslach Burnout Inventory

Maslach Burnout Inventory is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Maslach Burnout Inventory rather than just read about it. In short: The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) is a psychological assessment instrument comprising 16 to 22 symptom items pertaining to occupational burnout. The original form of the MBI was developed by Christina Maslach and Susan E.

Key takeaways

Maslach Burnout Inventory belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Maslach Burnout Inventory to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Maslach Burnout Inventory from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) is a psychological assessment instrument comprising 16 to 22 symptom items pertaining to occupational burnout. The original form of the MBI was developed by Christina Maslach and Susan E. Jackson. Their goal was to develop an instrument to assess an individual's experience of burnout symptoms. The instrument takes 10 minutes to complete. The MBI measures three dimensions of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Schaufeli (2003), a major figure in burnout research, criticized the instrument, writing that "the MBI is neither grounded in firm clinical observation nor based on sound theorising. Instead, it has been developed inductively by factor-analysing a rather arbitrary set of items" (p. 3). Following the publication of the MBI in 1981, new versions of the MBI were gradually developed to apply to different occupational groups. There are now five versions of the MBI: Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS), Human Services Survey for Medical Personnel (MBI-HSS (MP)), Educators Survey (MBI-ES), General Survey (MBI-GS), and General Survey for Students (MBI-GS [S]). The psychometric properties of the MBI have proved to be problematic, for example, in terms of factorial validity (measuring a unitary construct) and measurement invariance, casting doubt on the conceptual coherence and syndromal cohesiveness of burnout. Two meta-analyses report on sample-specific reliability estimates for the three MBI subscales. The meta-analyses found that the emotional exhaustion subscale has good enough reliability; however, evidence for the reliability of the depersonalization and personal accomplishment subscales is weaker. Research based on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model indicates that the emotional exhaustion, the core of burnout, is directly related to demands/workload and inversely related to the extensiveness of the resources at a worker's disposal. The MBI has been validated for human services samples, educator samples, and general worker samples. The MBI is sometimes combined with the Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS) to assess levels of burnout and worklife context.

Uses According Maslach and her colleagues, the MBI has several uses:

Assess professional burnout in human service, education, business, and government professions. Assess and validate the three-dimensional structure of burnout. Understand the nature of burnout for developing effective interventions.

Subscales The various versions of MBI subscales are enumerated below.

Emotional Exhaustion (EE) The 9-item Emotional Exhaustion (EE) subscale measures feelings of being emotionally overextended and exhausted by one's work. Higher scores correspond to greater experienced burnout. This scale is used in the MBI-HSS, MBI-HSS (MP), and MBI-ES versions. The MBI-GS and MBI-GS (S) use a shorter 5-item version of this subscale called "Exhaustion".

Depersonalization (DP) The 5-item Depersonalization (DP) subscale measures an unfeeling and impersonal response toward recipients of one's service, care, treatment, or instruction. Higher scores indicate higher degrees of experienced burnout. This subscale is used in the MBI-HSS, MBI-HSS (MP) and the MBI-ES versions.

Personal Accomplishment (PA) The 8-item Personal Accomplishment (PA) subscale measures feelings of competence and successful achievement in one's work. Lower scores correspond to greater experienced burnout. This scale is used in the MBI-HSS, MBI-HSS (MP), and MBI-ES versions.

Cynicism The 5-item Cynicism subscale measures an indifference or a distance attitude towards one's work. It is akin to the Depersonalization subscale. The cynicism measured by this subscale is a coping mechanism for distancing oneself from exhausting job demands. Higher scores correspond to greater experienced burnout. This subscale is used in the MBI-GS and MBI-GS (S) versions.

Professional Efficacy The 6-item Professional Efficacy subscale measures feelings of competence and successful achievement in one's work. It is akin to the Personal Accomplishment subscale. This sense of personal accomplishment emphasizes effectiveness and success in having a beneficial impact on people. Lower scores correspond to greater experienced burnout. This subscale is used in the MBI-GS and MBI-GS (S) versions.

Forms The MBI has five validated forms composed of 16 to 22 items. They are enumerated below:

Maslach Burnout Inventory - Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) The MBI-HSS consists of 22 items and is the original and most widely used version of the MBI. It was designed for professionals in human services and is appropriate for respondents working in a diverse array of occupations, including nurses, physicians, health aides, social workers, health counselors, therapists, police, correctional officers, clergy, and other fields focused on helping people live better lives by offering guidance, preventing harm, and ameliorating physical, emotional, or cognitive problems. The MBI-HSS subscales are Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, and Personal Accomplishment.

Maslach Burnout Inventory - Human Services Survey for Medical Personnel (MBI-HSS (MP)) The MBI-HSS (MP) is a variation of the MBI-HSS adapted for medical personnel. The most notable alteration is this form refers to "patients" instead of "recipients". The MBI-HSS (MP) subscales are Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, and Personal Accomplishment.

Maslach Burnout Inventory - Educators Survey (MBI-ES) The MBI-ES consists of 22 items and is a version of the original MBI for use with educators. It was designed for teachers, administrators, other staff members, and volunteers working in any educational setting. This form was formerly known as MBI-Form Ed. The MBI-ES subscales are Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, and Personal Accomplishment.

Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey (MBI-GS) The MBI-GS consists of 16 items and is designed for use with occupational groups other than human services and education, including those working in jobs such as customer service, maintenance, manufacturing, management, and most other professions. The MBI-GS subscales are Exhaustion, Cynicism, and Professional Efficacy.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Maslach Burnout Inventory

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Maslach Burnout Inventory claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Maslach Burnout Inventory before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Maslach Burnout Inventory ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Maslach Burnout Inventory

In research: Maslach Burnout Inventory appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Maslach Burnout Inventory in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Maslach Burnout Inventory is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Human resource management publications, Motivation, Occupational stress, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Maslach Burnout Inventory outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Maslach Burnout Inventory” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Maslach Burnout Inventory in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Maslach Burnout Inventory means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Maslach Burnout Inventory out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Maslach Burnout Inventory in simple terms?

Why does Maslach Burnout Inventory matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Maslach Burnout Inventory?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Maslach Burnout Inventory.