A little perspective for a lot of work pressure. You are in the right place.
jobstresscheck. Explore assessments

Assessments

Who is the CBI for? Workers, human service staff, and researchers

The CBI was developed for the PUMA study of people in human service professions. [1] It can be used by workers in other jobs, and the personal and work-related scales do not depend on having clients. [1] It was designed for studying groups, so it should not be used to judge individual staff. [1]

Who can use the CBI?

The document does not set an age limit. Its normative data cover Danish adults aged 20 to 59. [1] The Hong Kong Academy of Medicine page does not state a target group. [2] Anyone who works can read the work-related scale as a prompt for reflection.

Which groups has it been studied in?

The PUMA project covered 1,917 people, 83% of them women, working as social workers, hospital staff, prison staff, home helpers, and in institutions for people with chronic disabilities. [1] The document also gives data for a representative sample of Danish adults. [1] A 2025 review of burnout scales in healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic found the CBI to be the second most used scale, in 81 studies. [3]

Can employers use it with staff?

It was written to study groups of workers, and its figures describe groups. [1] Using it to judge an individual employee is a different use that its document does not describe. If you want to understand work stress in an organisation, use a work-design approach followed by conversation.

When is a different starting point better?

If you want to know how drained or detached you feel about your job, the OLBI. If you want to compare exhaustion, cynicism, and efficacy, the Maslach Burnout Inventory. If you want to see thinking and emotional symptoms alongside exhaustion, the Burnout Assessment Tool. If you want an overall stress snapshot, the PSS-10. If you are in distress, talk to someone first.

Sources and further reading

These links open external research and health-information websites.

  1. Borritz and Kristensen (2004): Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. Normative data from a representative Danish population on personal burnout, and results from the PUMA study. National Institute of Occupational Health, Copenhagen (first edition, February 2004)
    The inventory's own document, hosted by the Danish National Research Centre for the Working Environment: the three parts and their definitions, response categories, scoring, non-responder rules, Danish normative data, and PUMA results. Read on 2 November 2026.
  2. Hong Kong Academy of Medicine: Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (online self-assessment)
    An automated online version, made with the consent of the Danish centre. Three scales from 0 to 100, tiered result text, and a note that burnout is an occupational phenomenon in ICD-11. Read on 2 November 2026.
  3. Efremova et al. (2025): Burnout scales used in healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and their psychometric properties: a systematic review. Frontiers in Public Health
    An open-access review that compares the MBI, CBI, and OLBI. First 100,000 of about 165,000 characters read through Europe PMC; the rest not read.

This page is educational. A questionnaire score cannot establish a diagnosis or explain the cause of your symptoms. If you are struggling, speak with a doctor or mental health professional, whatever your score. Read when to get help for work stress or find a helpline in your country.