Publication details
Psychometric properties of the Czech BAT4 ultra-short measure of burnout
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| Year of publication | 2026 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | Background: The Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT) has become a highly used questionnaire for measuring burnout symptoms and is now used in more than 20 different translations. In addition to the original BAT, there is also a short version (12 items) and the latest ultra-short version with 4 items (BAT4). For the ultra-short version, there is currently limited evidence of its validity, particularly regarding the validity of the different language versions. This study provides evidence of the reliability and validity of the Czech adaptation of BAT4. Method: The sample consisted of 731 working adult respondents out of 1,000 respondents of a quarterly representative online survey conducted by a professional agency specializing in research among the Czech population. Women slightly prevailed in the sample (55.5%). In terms of education, the fewest people had primary education (8.7%) and the most had secondary education (70.9%). The most represented sectors where employees worked were manufacturing (23.1%), services (18.8%), and wholesale and retail trade (11.5%). The respondents were mainly full-time employed (67.1%). To measure burnout, we used the Czech translation of BAT4 ultra-short questionnaire with a five-point response scale. Results: The Czech BAT4 showed to be internally consistent (McDonald’s ? = .76) with item-total correlations ranging from .52 to .58. The mean BAT4 score was 2.51 (SD = .72). The 50 respondents who self-reported that they were under professional care due to burnout in past 6 months had significantly higer scores of BAT4 (M = 3.01, SD = .70) than the rest of the sample (M = 2.47, SD = .71), t(712) = 5.15, p < .001, d = 0.75. Confirmatory factor analysis with robust estimation revealed a good fit of the data to the model (CFI = .98, TLI = .95, RMSEA = .09), with standardized factor loadings of the items ranging from .61 to .69. Invariance testing indicated weak (metric) invariance of the questionnaire across genders. Males tended to score higher in some items, while women did in others. However, there was no significant difference between men and women in the total burnout score. Interestingly, individuals working in services (M = 2.38, SD = .71) had significantly lower burnout scores compared to those working in other sectors. Conclusion: Our study has shown that the Czech BAT4 is a reliable tool for burnout screening and can be used for research purposes. The data did not allow for the development of cut-off scores for assessing the risk of burnout syndrome, as we lacked reliable medical data. For further research on BAT, we recommend focusing more on invariance across genders and on the gender specificity of some items. |