Psychometric Properties of the Italian Version of the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT)

Abstract

The most popular instrument to measure burnout is the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Recently, to overcome some of the limitations of the MBI, a new instrument has been proposed, namely the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT, Schaufeli, Desart & De Witte, 2020). The purpose of this study is to examine the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the BAT. This tool is comprised of a set of four core dimensions (BAT-C; i.e., exhaustion, mental distance, cognitive and emotional impairment) and two secondary symptom dimensions (BAT-S; i.e., psychological and psychosomatic complaints). Data were collected on a sample of 738 participants from heterogeneous sectors and professional roles. In the sample women were slightly overrepresented (52.9%), the participants had a mean age of 41.57 years (SD = 10.51) and a mean organizational tenure of 9.65 years (SD = 8.50). The reliability and factorial structure of the BAT-C and BAT-S, together with the convergent and discriminant validity of BAT-C and MBI were explored, as well as the incremental validity to the BAT-C, over and beyond the MBI. Our results confirmed the factorial validity of a two-factor second-order factor model (BAT-C and BAT-S) represented by 4 first-order factors in the case of BAT-C and 2 first-order factors for BAT-S. Results also attested that BAT-C explains additional variance of the BAT-S, above and beyond what is explained by the MBI-GS. All in all, this study provided evidence that the Italian version of BAT represents a reliable and valid tool for measuring burnout in the work context.

A new tool to evaluate burnout: the Italian version of the BAT for Italian healthcare workers

“…Building on previous Italian adaptation on the general population [ 31 ] and an Italian teachers’ sample [ 30 ], we expected to confirm earlier findings regarding the BAT’s factorial validity, reliability, and construct validity with a sample of HCWs. Details about the results are discussed below.…”

“…Concerning the factor validity, we expected the BATxHCW to confirm the second-factor structure and show a good fit for the first-order six-factor structure, following previous validations [ 30 , 31 ]. Therefore, a CFA was conducted, using RMSEA, SRMR, CFI, and TLI as fit indexes.…”

“…The general objective of this study was to adapt the Italian version of the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT [ 29 ]) for an HCWs’ sample. Expressly, given the solid theoretical construct and earlier Italian validation of the BAT (for the general population and a teachers’ sample, respectively Consiglio et al [ 31 ] and Angelini et al [ 30 ]), we set the following aims and hypotheses. We expected: 1) to confirm the second-order factorial structure of the HCW’s version of the BAT (BATxHCW); 2) to obtain good fit indexes in the six-factor model; 3) to confirm the internal reliability of the BATxHCW; 4) to obtain good internal and external validity of the BATxHCW when correlated with the emotional exhaustion subscale of the MBI, with the World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5), and finally, with the SF-12 Health Survey (SF-12).…”

“…Schaufeli et al [ 29 ] have recently introduced a new device, the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT); it is a multi-factors tool where several dimensions are considered part of burnout suffering and its externalize and internalize expressions. The BAT is already adopted in the Italian language, demonstrating good reliability and validity [ 30 , 31 ], encouraging its extensive use in burnout measures. However, no previous research has adopted BAT’s measures to an HCW’s sample to our knowledge.…”

An Italian Adaptation of the Burnout Assessment Tool-Core Symptoms (BAT-C) for Students

“…According to [15], both a total score of the BAT and a total score concerning its two main dimensions (BAT-C, BAT-S) and their respective sub-dimensions can be computed. Moreover, both in the original validation study and in other validation studies of the instruments [15,43,44], the factorial validity of the two dimensions was explored separately. Since no previous study has adapted the BAT to a sample of students in light of the evidence mentioned above, we decided to focus on the core symptoms in the present work, thus choosing to adapt only the BAT-C's core symptoms.…”