The COVID-19 burnout scale: development and initial validation

BackgroundResearch on the pandemic-related burnout has focused on work-related burnout especially among healthcare workers, but not in the general population.AimTo develop a valid and reliable instrument scale to measure pandemic-related burnout in the general population.MethodsWe took several steps to develop the scale items and achieve content and face validity; literature review, panel of experts, calculation of content validity ratio, and cognitive interviews. We assessed structural and construct validity, and reliability of the COVID-19 burnout scale (COVID-19-BS).ResultsExploratory and confirmatory factor analysis identified three factors for the COVID-19-BS; emotional exhaustion, physical exhaustion, and exhaustion due to measures against the COVID-19. Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the three factors and the COVID-19-BS ranged from 0.860 to 0.921. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value was 0.945, and p-value for Bartlett test was <0.001. A significant positive correlation between the three factors and anxiety and depression indicated high concurrent validity. Cohen's kappa ranged from 0.848 to 0.957, while intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.888 to 0.997.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that the final 3-factor model with 13 items of COVID-19-BS is a brief, easy to administer, valid and reliable scale for assessing COVID-19-related burnout in the general public.

Automated summary

The aim of this study was to develop a valid and reliable instrument to measure pandemic-related burnout in the general population. Through various steps including literature review, expert panel, content validity ratio calculation, and cognitive interviews, we developed the COVID-19 burnout scale. The results showed that the scale has good structural validity, construct validity, and reliability.