Development and validation of a new diagnostic tool for identifying burnout syndrome.

Abstract

Objective: Aim: To creation the first Ukrainian burnout syndrome diagnostic scale and confirm the quality of its psychometric characteristics.

Patients and methods: Materials and Methods: The study was conducted using a newly developed questionnaire administered to 1,405 academic staff members of higher educational institutions in Ukraine. Test validation was carried out using exploratory factor analysis, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, Ferguson's δ coefficient, Cronbach's α coefficient, Guttman's split-half coefficient, and the Spearman-Brown equivalent forms coefficient.

Results: Results: The criterion validity was assessed through factor analysis, yielding 10 factors. Consequently, the initial version of the questionnaire was reduced by 10 items with the lowest factor loadings. The final version consists of 50 items with a dichotomous response scale. The discriminatory power of the questionnaire, evaluated using Ferguson's δ coefficient, was found to be extremely high (δ-Ferguson = 0.988). Consistency indices also demonstrated high reliability: α-Cronbach = 0.877; Guttman split-half = 0.848; Equal-length Spearman-Brown = 0.857. The concurrent reliability of the questionnaire was assessed using Spearman's correlation analysis, showing statistically significant positive correlations of most questionnaire items with the overall test score (≥ 0.419; p ≤ 3.29E-15).

Conclusion: Conclusions: The obtained results confirm the feasibility of using the first Ukrainian "Questionnaire for Identifying Burnout Syndrome" (© Chaban O.S., 2025) in practical psychology, medicine, and burnout research.