Early Risk Detection of Burnout: Development of the Burnout Prevention Questionnaire for Coaches

Abstract

Introduction: Previous research has shown that burnout develops as the result of a continuous imbalance between chronic stress and appropriate coping resources. Hence, the essential factors to measure burnout encompassed the factors stress and recovery within our studies. However, the Burnout Prevention Questionnaire for Coaches (BPQ-C) does not represent a new questionnaire from scratch, but rather a re-evaluated, condensed, and subsequently combined instrument with scales derived from validated psychometric instruments. Methods: The objective of study 1 ( N = 233) was to create and evaluate the psychometric structure of the BPQ-C. The aim of study 2 ( N = 473) consisted in the validation of the BPQ-C via a Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Results: The Exploratory Factor Analysis resulted in a model with three dimensions (Pre-Burnout, Resources, and Burnout). Via the subsequent Confirmatory Factor Analysis, the model could be confirmed with good fit indices (χ2 = 96.898, df = 19, p < 0.001, CFI = 0.973, SRMR = 0.044, RMSEA = 0.093, LO90 = 0.075, HI90 = 0.112). Conclusion: The BPQ-C includes a number of previously established risk and protective factors within a single psychometric instrument. The systematic application of the BPQ-C can help to detect critical conditions at an early stage in order to derive individualized and beneficial interventions for the respective coaches.

Response: Commentary: Early Risk Detection of Burnout: Development of the Burnout Prevention Questionnaire for Coaches

“…As described above, the BPQ-C should be used for research purposes only at this stage. The correlated residuals in the threefactor structure of the BPQ-C have already been sufficiently argued in the paper (Schaffran et al, 2019) as well as in the manual of the Recovery-Stress Questionnaire (Kallus and Kellmann, 2016). In addition, both the model with and without modifications were presented to allow replication with other data sets.…”

“…The BPQ-C was particularly developed for research interests and is not meant for clinical diagnostics. Moreover, the paper by Schaffran et al (2019) presents a preliminary version of the BPQ-C which has to be confirmed in replication studies containing further samples. Therefore, the present version of the BPQ-C is not suitable for diagnostic-based interventions.…”

“…This commentary refers to the recently published commentary by Lundkvist et al ( 2019 ) in this journal and aims at clearing up an obvious misunderstanding. Lundkvist et al ( 2019 ) critize rightly at the beginning of their commentary that the BPQ-C (Schaffran et al, 2019 ) “should not currently be used by practitioners and researchers to screen for burnout” (Lundkvist et al, 2019 , p. 1). It may have been apparent to the attentive reader that the aim of the questionnaire is not the screening of burnout but much rather the acquisition of critical factors that increase the probability of burnout if combined adversely and persistently.…”

“…It may have been apparent to the attentive reader that the aim of the questionnaire is not the screening of burnout but much rather the acquisition of critical factors that increase the probability of burnout if combined adversely and persistently. There is no hint to the use of the BPQ-C as screening instrument for burnout in the article (Schaffran et al, 2019 ). On the contrary, it is suggested that “The BPQ-C should primarily be implemented to detect potential causes of burnout to derive individual preventive measures” (Schaffran et al, 2019 , p. 9).…”

“…There is no hint to the use of the BPQ-C as screening instrument for burnout in the article (Schaffran et al, 2019 ). On the contrary, it is suggested that “The BPQ-C should primarily be implemented to detect potential causes of burnout to derive individual preventive measures” (Schaffran et al, 2019 , p. 9). Furthermore, in view of the preliminary validation of the internal structure of the questionnaire, it is recommended to use it only in research for the time being.…”