Within- and between-person factor structure of the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory: Analysis of a diary study using multilevel confirmatory factor analysis

Abstract

The study examined the factor structure of burnout, as measured with the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory. The participants were 235 employees of a public administration agency who assessed their burnout online for 10 consecutive working days. Two models were tested with multilevel confirmatory factor analysis, assuming the same one or two-factor structure at the within- and between-person levels. Both models showed a reasonable fit to the data, but due to a strong correlation between exhaustion and disengagement and low within-person reliability for disengagement, a unidimensional model seems more valid. A cross-level invariance was not confirmed for either of the structures, showing that factor loadings for the same items differ significantly between the levels. This suggests that burnout is not the same latent variable at each level; rather, there are factors other than daily burnout that influence person-level scores and ignoring these across-level discrepancies may lead to biased conclusions.

Burnout among Psychotherapists: A Cross-cultural Value Survey among 12 European Countries during the Coronavirus Disease Pandemic

“…Our ndings indicate the need for further research on burnout in the multilevel approach, as different conclusions can be drawn depending on the level of analysis [16]. In this context, some authors suggest even using different items to assess burnout regarding the examined level of analysis [10]. The cultural level of burnout should be examined more deeply in the future with greater care for reducing the above-mentioned shortcomings.…”

“…This latter fact is a clear sign that burnout is currently a global and highly prevalent occupational phenomenon that can be observed in any profession [5,7]. However, the aforementioned diagnostic milestone occurred amid unresolved controversies regarding the appropriate burnout operationalization and measurement [10,11,12]. These controversies can be tackled in the ongoing debate on the advantages and challenges of the two methodological approaches to study burnout, that is, a traditional variable-centered design and the less frequently used person-centered approach [13,14,15].…”

“…More recently, a multilevel approach to has been increasingly proposed, which measures burnout at two nested levels at least (e.g., organizational and individual) [16]. This approach may provide new insight into the fundamental question of whether burnout is a multidimensional phenomenon or unitary, single-factor syndrome consisting of interrelated symptoms [10]. In our study, we followed this new methodological approach in examining burnout among psychotherapists from 12 European countries during the coronavirus disease (COVID- 19) pandemic.…”

Burnout among psychotherapists: a cross-cultural value survey among 12 European countries during the coronavirus disease pandemic

“…In our study, we followed the basic cultural values in the refined Schwartz value theory 24 , 25 to assess burnout differences among psychotherapists from 12 European countries during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. To combine both individual and cultural perspectives, we employed the multilevel approach, which allowed us to evaluate burnout at different levels of this hierarchy simultaneously 26 , 27 . This approach may provide new insight into the fundamental question of whether burnout is a multidimensional phenomenon or unitary, single-factor syndrome consisting of interrelated symptoms 27 .…”

“…To combine both individual and cultural perspectives, we employed the multilevel approach, which allowed us to evaluate burnout at different levels of this hierarchy simultaneously 26 , 27 . This approach may provide new insight into the fundamental question of whether burnout is a multidimensional phenomenon or unitary, single-factor syndrome consisting of interrelated symptoms 27 . In our study, we wanted to verify whether, among psychotherapists from these 12 countries, differences in professional burnout were associated with individual and country-aggregated Schwartz’s values, after controlling for sociodemographic and work-related characteristics as well as the COVID-19 distress.…”