Maslach Burnout Inventory versus Boyko’s Burnout Inventory: a comparative study and methodology

Abstract

Background In Russia, the following two questionnaires are mainly used to study the burnout syndrome: Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and Boyko’s Burnout Inventory (BBI). Despite the fact that the questionnaires are based on different theoretical models and composition of the scales, they evaluate essentially the same construct. A few published sources provide data on correlations between the results of measuring burnout using these methods. However, the presence of a correlation does not imply the comparability of the methods. The goal of our study was to compare the results of MBI and BBI as well as to develop a methodology for reciprocal recalculation of their burnout estimates. Methods MBI and BBI scales were employed to diagnose the burnout syndrome. Our study included 117 men aged 41–44 years. The total scores obtained by the two methods, as well as the subscale scores, were compared using the correlation analysis, the cross-comparative analysis, and the Bland–Altman plot method, while the associations between the results were estimated with odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Results The total scores (integral indicators based on summing the scores of all subscales and taking into account differences in the weights of scale scores) demonstrated a high similarity in measuring the severity of the burnout. All three dimensions of burnout sensu MBI correlated with the total BBI score. Conclusion The comparison (MBI vs. BBI) demonstrated the consistency of the results, which implied the possibility of comparing data yielded by the studies based on the two questionnaires (MBI and BBI).