Measuring ICD-11 Burnout with the Burnout Syndrome Test (BST)

Can you Measure Burnout?

I’m excited to share that my latest research paper on burnout is now published. Our study developed the Burnout Syndrome Test (BST), a new measure of burnout, aligned with current World Health Organization criteria.

The Problem

In 2019, the World Health Organization officially recognised burnout in the ICD-11 as “a syndrome conceptualised as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” It’s characterised by three dimensions in the WHO ICD-11 (2025):

Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job
A sense of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment

This was significant. But most existing assessment tools were created before this definition and don’t align with it. We needed measurement tools that match the current scientific understanding.

What We Did

We developed the Burnout Syndrome Test (BST), a brief questionnaire built specifically around the WHO’s ICD-11 criteria. We validated it in two UK samples: 245 employees initially, then a nationally representative sample of 1,001 people, focusing on the 758 currently employed.

What We Found

The BST successfully captured all three dimensions of burnout. People with higher burnout scores also tended to report more work addiction, presenteeism, depression, and anxiety symptoms, but felt less engaged in their work. It performed consistently across genders.

The burnout prevalence in our representative sample in the UK was 14.64%, roughly one in seven workers.

Why This Matters

Standardised measurement tools enables researchers to compare findings across studies, helps organisations monitor workplace wellbeing accurately, and supports healthcare providers in identifying burnout systematically. It’s foundational to developing evidence-based interventions.

Burnout isn’t occasional stress, it’s a specific syndrome from chronic, unmanaged workplace stress. Proper measurement is the first step toward prevention and treatment.

What’s Next

Understanding burnout is just one piece of a larger effort. Prevention and treatment require ongoing work from researchers, employers, policymakers, and healthcare providers. Having reliable measurement tools is foundational to that work.

The BST is freely available for use in research and practice. If you’re interested in using the BST or discussing potential validation work in other languages, feel free to reach out.

The full paper with technical details and methodology is available link to paper.

Have you experienced burnout? What do you think workplaces should do differently? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Further Resources

Follow me on LinkedIn for updates on my PhD journey and research on workplace wellbeing.