Copenhagen Burnout Inventory

The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) is a validated, 19-item clinical measure designed to assess the core symptom of burnout: profound physical and…

Questions: 19
Duration: 7 min
Original title: CBI — Copenhagen Burnout Inventory
Adaptation: Copenhagen Burnout Inventory
Authors: Kristensen, T. S., Borritz, M., Villadsen, E., & Christensen, K. B.
Created: 2005

The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) is a validated, 19-item clinical measure designed to assess the core symptom of burnout: profound physical and psychological exhaustion. Unlike older measures that conflate fatigue with systemic attitudes or detachment, the CBI isolates exhaustion as its central construct. This focus allows clinicians to accurately track a patient's energy depletion and help them understand what burnout actually is.

What makes the CBI particularly valuable in practice is its tri-dimensional structure. It maps fatigue across three distinct domains: personal burnout (general exhaustion independent of occupation), work-related burnout, and client-related burnout. This separation helps you build a precise formulation, distinguishing whether a patient is globally depleted, responding to a toxic workplace, or specifically drained by emotional labor with patients or clients.

As an open-access, reliable metric, the CBI is widely used at intake to quantify severity and track recovery. Its clear scoring system provides actionable data to ground clinical discussions, address the specific sources of workplace stress, and validate the patient's lived experience.

Example result

Fictitious result, computed from a sample set of answers.

A 19-item self-report questionnaire assessing burnout across three dimensions: personal burnout (general), work-related burnout, and client-related burnout (working with clients/patients/service users). Developed by Kristensen et al. (2005) as an alternative to the Maslach Burnout Inventory, it conceptualizes burnout as a state of physical and psychological fatigue. Intended for working adults, particularly human service professionals.

Work-related burnout

46.429/ 100

Prolonged physical and psychological exhaustion that the individual attributes to their work.

items 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

0–49

Exhaustion below the threshold

46.429

50–100

High exhaustion

The score remains below the threshold of 50 that defines high exhaustion in the source. The source does not characterise this range; the score is read over time and across the three dimensions.

généralemixed · community sample · human services · Denmark · n = 1910 · 2004 · Kristensen et al. (2005)

0100

46.429

M = 33 ± 17.7

généralewomen · community sample · women · Denmark · n = 1585 · 2004 · Kristensen et al. (2005)

0100

46.429

M = 33.4 ± 18.1

généralemixed · community sample · healthcare professionals · 22–67 years · Latvia · n = 288 · 2023

0100

46.429

M = 56 ± 15.8

généralemixed · community sample · preschool teachers · Serbia · n = 475 · Piperac et al.

0100

46.429

M = 41.2 ± 15.9

Client-related burnout

54.167/ 100

Prolonged physical and psychological exhaustion attributed to working with service users (patients, students, clients).

items 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19

0–49

Exhaustion below the threshold

50–100

High exhaustion

54.167

15.9% of the human services reference sample reach this level on client-related burnout.

généralemixed · community sample · human services · Denmark · n = 1752 · 2004 · Kristensen et al. (2005)

0100

54.167

M = 30.9 ± 17.6

généralewomen · community sample · women · Denmark · n = 1471 · 2004 · Kristensen et al. (2005)

0100

54.167

M = 30 ± 17.2

généralemen · community sample · men · Denmark · n = 281 · 2004 · Kristensen et al. (2005)

0100

54.167

M = 35.6 ± 18.8

généralemixed · community sample · healthcare professionals · 22–67 years · Latvia · n = 288 · 2023

0100

54.167

M = 48.9 ± 16.7

généralemixed · community sample · preschool teachers · Serbia · n = 475 · Piperac et al.

0100

54.167

M = 34.7 ± 22

Personal burnout

41.667/ 100

State of prolonged physical and psychological exhaustion, regardless of the cause.

items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

0–49

Exhaustion below the threshold

41.667

50–100

High exhaustion

The score remains below the threshold of 50 that defines high exhaustion in the source. The source does not characterise this range; the score is read over time and across the three dimensions.

généralemixed · general population · representative adult sample · 20–59 years · Denmark · n = 1498 · 2004 · Borritz et al. (2004)

0100

41.667

M = 32.7 ± 15.7

généralemixed · general population · employed · 20–59 years · Denmark · n = 1186 · 2004 · Borritz et al. (2004)

0100

41.667

M = 31.7 ± 14.8

généralemixed · general population · unemployed · 20–59 years · Denmark · n = 312 · 2004 · Borritz et al. (2004)

0100

41.667

M = 36.6 ± 18.3

généralemixed · community sample · human services · Denmark · n = 1898 · 2004 · Kristensen et al. (2005)

0100

41.667

M = 35.9 ± 16.5

généralewomen · community sample · women · Denmark · n = 1574 · 2004 · Kristensen et al. (2005)

0100

41.667

M = 36.9 ± 16.4

généralemen · community sample · men · Denmark · n = 324 · 2004 · Kristensen et al. (2005)

0100

41.667

M = 30.8 ± 16

généralemixed · community sample · healthcare professionals · 22–67 years · Latvia · n = 288 · 2023

0100

41.667

M = 58.9 ± 17.3

généralemixed · community sample · preschool teachers · Serbia · n = 475 · Piperac et al.

0100

41.667

M = 41.3 ± 18.7

Have your patient take this test

Assign it in one click: your patient answers on their phone, you receive the score and its interpretation.

Assign this test to a patient

What the test measures

The CBI isolates and measures the core construct of physical and emotional exhaustion across three distinct life domains, ensuring a targeted formulation of the patient's depleted state.

Personal Burnout: Captures the individual's overall degree of physical and psychological fatigue, regardless of their occupational status. It assesses global energy loss and the need for broad nervous system regulation.
Work-Related Burnout: Measures the exhaustion and frustration directly attributed to the individual's working conditions, often tied to unmanaged psychosocial risks at work.
Client-Related Burnout: Assesses the specific emotional toll stemming from direct interaction with clients, patients, students, or other service recipients.

This instrument is validated for adults and is particularly relevant for those in helping or human-service professions, though the first two subscales apply to any employed individual.

When and why to use it

Clinicians use the CBI to establish a clear baseline of exhaustion and to differentiate its sources during clinical assessment and treatment.

Intake baseline: To quantify the severity of exhaustion, serving as a structured check for burnout to see which life domain is driving the depletion.
Treatment monitoring: To track energy recovery over time, ensuring interventions are successfully breaking the cycles of what keeps burnout going.
Differential support: To distinguish between global fatigue and occupational distress, guiding the choice of appropriate coping strategies.
Opening dialogue: To provide a concrete metric that helps patients validate their subjective distress, moving them away from self-blame and toward understanding and managing stress.

Using a validated score adds clinical precision over a general impression of fatigue, allowing for targeted intervention and objective measurement of therapeutic progress.

Clinical library

750+ clinical tools

A library built with and for clinicians, ready to use in session and extend between appointments.

Access all the tools

Several resource types

Psychoeducation handouts

Understand at a glance

Interactive exercises

To do and fill in

Interactive programs

A structured path

Audios

Meditation and relaxation

Psychometric tests

Automatic scoring

The questions

The following questions ask about your level of exhaustion over the past few weeks. For each question, choose the response that best describes your situation. Please answer as spontaneously as possible. The subscale 'client-related burnout' only applies to individuals who work with clients, patients, students, or other service recipients.
1. How often do you feel tired?
Assesses the baseline frequency of general physical or mental tiredness.
- Always
- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Never / almost never
2. How often are you physically exhausted?
Probes the specific subjective experience of somatic depletion.
- Always
- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Never / almost never
3. How often are you emotionally exhausted?
Evaluates the frequency of feeling drained of emotional resources.
- Always
- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Never / almost never
4. How often do you think, "I can't take it anymore"?
Captures moments of acute overwhelm and cognitive fatigue.
- Always
- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Never / almost never
5. How often do you feel worn out?
Measures the global sensation of being depleted and lacking stamina.
- Always
- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Never / almost never
6. How often do you feel weak and susceptible to illness?
Identifies perceived vulnerability and physical fragility related to exhaustion.
- Always
- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Never / almost never
7. Is your work emotionally exhausting?
Evaluates the direct emotional toll the patient attributes to their job.
- To a very high degree
- To a high degree
- To a moderate degree
- To a low degree
- To a very low degree
8. Do you feel burned out because of your work?
Directly queries the patient's subjective attribution of burnout to their employment.
- To a very high degree
- To a high degree
- To a moderate degree
- To a low degree
- To a very low degree
9. Does your work frustrate you?
Assesses work-related frustration as a component of professional exhaustion.
- To a very high degree
- To a high degree
- To a moderate degree
- To a low degree
- To a very low degree
10. Do you feel exhausted at the end of your workday?
Captures the immediate energy deficit experienced post-work.
- Always
- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Never / almost never
11. Are you exhausted in the morning at the thought of another workday?
Identifies anticipatory fatigue and lack of recovery before the workday begins.
- Always
- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Never / almost never
12. Do you feel that every hour of work is exhausting?
Measures the pervasive sense of effort required to sustain working tasks.
- Always
- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Never / almost never
13. Do you have enough energy for your family and friends during your free time?
Evaluates the spillover of occupational exhaustion into personal and social life.
- Always
- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Never / almost never
14. Do you find it difficult to work with clients (patients, students, users)?
Probes the perceived difficulty of managing relational tasks with service recipients.
- To a very high degree
- To a high degree
- To a moderate degree
- To a low degree
- To a very low degree
15. Do you find it frustrating to work with clients?
Identifies feelings of frustration directed toward the patient or client population.
- To a very high degree
- To a high degree
- To a moderate degree
- To a low degree
- To a very low degree
16. Does working with clients drain you of your energy?
Assesses the specific energetic cost of engaging in client or patient interactions.
- To a very high degree
- To a high degree
- To a moderate degree
- To a low degree
- To a very low degree
17. Do you feel that you give more than you get back when working with clients?
Measures the perceived imbalance between emotional investment and relational return.
- To a very high degree
- To a high degree
- To a moderate degree
- To a low degree
- To a very low degree
18. Are you tired of working with clients?
Captures feelings of weariness specifically tied to the helping role.
- Always
- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Never / almost never
19. Do you ever wonder how much longer you can continue working with clients?
Evaluates doubts regarding professional longevity and sustainability in a client-facing role.
- Always
- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Never / almost never