In the media, a lot of attention is rightly paid to stress and burnout. Burnout is, after all, much more than mere fatigue due to work. It is an illness, a symptom of professional exhaustion, which cannot be equated with depression.
However, the diagnosis of burnout is often given too quickly and healthcare providers still lack the right instruments to make a correct diagnosis. To provide an answer to this, researchers at KU Leuven have launched a project to develop a new screening instrument for burnout. This ‘Burn-Out Assessment Tool’(BAT), a questionnaire to identify employees suffering from burnout on the one hand and to offer a tool to professionals for diagnosing burnout on the other hand, should therefore enable better prevention, more efficient detection, and better treatment of burnout. The importance of such an instrument cannot be denied, as burnout is a significant cause of absenteeism and turnover, an enormous cost for you as an employer.
Definition
After questioning Belgian and Dutch occupational physicians and psychologists about the symptoms and causes of burnout, the researchers arrived at the following five clusters of symptoms:
- Exhaustion (both physical and psychological)
- Stress-related complaints (both behavioural and psychosomatic)
- Cognitive dysfunction (memory, concentration, and performance problems)
- Emotional loss of control (both intense emotional reactions and prolonged sombre mood)
- Mental distance (mentally distancing oneself from work)
Previous research into the causes indicates that burnout is a work-related problem. However, some caveats are in order here: Burnout often arises from a combination of different factors that are both private and work-related. Moreover, work is seen more broadly than paid labour. Under work, we can also include other activities such as studying, volunteering, etc. So, one can also speak of burnout here. For a more extensive definition, you can visit https://kuleuvenblogt.be/2017/02/20/op-zoek-naar-een-nieuwe-definitie-van-burn-out/.
New questionnaire
To date, the diagnosis of burnout is based on a questionnaire dating from before the 1990s. Our knowledge and experience with burnout have greatly improved since then. In addition, it appears that the current questionnaire is incomplete. For example, there are no questions about cognitive and stress-related symptoms or about the ability to perform work correctly. Finally, insufficient norms are available, which means that the current questionnaire is hardly used in practice...
Consequently, the researchers developed the BAT to help in diagnosing burnout, better assessing the risk of burnout, and thus being able to implement preventive measures. With a problem like burnout, it is, of course, in the interest of both yourself and your employees to prevent rather than to cure.
Project progress
The development of a new definition of burnout and the assessment of the reliability and validity of the BAT have already been completed, and the results are promising. Ongoing are the analyses of a population survey in Flanders and the Netherlands to clarify the relationship between burnout, personality, and work-related characteristics. This research is also being used to map the prevalence of burnout. Finally, a clinical validity study will be conducted among burned-out employees, with the aim of formulating a traffic light model with threshold values for the BAT to enable a more accurate assessment of the risk of burnout.
The launch of the BAT is scheduled for September 2018. In addition to making a correct diagnosis, the instrument can therefore also be used to determine the burnout risk within organisations and to take preventive measures based on this. Given the enormous cost of burnout for both your employees and yourself, the development of the BAT can only be welcomed.
You can, of course, always contact Premed for more information about burnout and other well-being related topics at www.premed.be/nieuws.
Also be sure to check out our training offerings at www.premed.be/opleidingen.
