Examining the Psychometric Properties of the Iranian Version of the Covid-19 Job Burnout Scale(COVID-19-BS)

Although tools for measuring job burnout have been psychometrically tested in Iran, it seems crucial to have an instrument that can be used by the general society. The Covid-19 burnout scale (COVID-19-BS) is the only tool available to assess the burnout following Covid-19 in the general population. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to determine and examine the psychometric properties of the Iranian version of the Covid-19 Burnout Scale (COVID-19-BS).

The present cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in 2021 on 137 participants in Yasuj, Iran. After the linguistic validation of the Iranian version of COVID-19-BS, the panel of experts evaluated the questionnaire questions by evaluating the content validity index (CVI) and content validity ratio (CVR). At that point, a semi-structured interview was conducted to assess face validity. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were performed to show the constructs of the questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was measured using the internal consistency test and test-retest analysis. The collected data were analyzed using Cronbach's alpha, Pearson's correlation coefficient, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.

Content Validity Index (CVI) and Content Validity Ratio (CVR) for COVID-19-BS were 0.90 and 0.94, respectively. A two-factor structure (physical and mental burnout symptoms) appeared in the EFA test, which was responsible for 67.51% of the observed variance. CFA results for the extracted two-factor structure showed an acceptable fit. Also, acceptable results were shown for internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha from 0.89 to 0.73) and intraclass correlation coefficients (between 0.72 and 0.80).

The results of the present study indicated a favorable preliminary psychometric test of COVID-19-BS in the Iranian population. The COVID-19-BS questionnaire is the first valid questionnaire in Farsi language regarding job burnout following Covid-19 in the general population, which may be useful for other Farsi-speaking countries that are exposed to job burnout due to Covid-19.