Reliability and validity of an instrument to describe burnout among collegiate athletic trainers

The existing investigations of professional burnout among certified athletic trainers (ATs) were conducted before 2000. Since 2000, several educational and legal changes have redefined the job duties and responsibilities of the AT working in collegiate athletics.

To develop an instrument to determine factors that contribute to burnout in ATs employed within the collegiate athletics setting.

Descriptive study.

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I-A universities.

Instrument design experts and ATs employed in various NCAA Division I-A athletic programs.

The Athletic Training Burnout Inventory (ATBI) included the Maslach Burnout Inventory (18 items) plus 45 new items to address established factors that lead to burnout and to address workload issues specific to athletic training. We initially developed 3 constructs (emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, level of stress, and level of organizational support) and included them in the 2 field tests and first pilot test of the ATBI. For the second pilot test, the instrument comprised 4 constructs: emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, administrative responsibility, time commitment, and organizational support. The 2 field tests were conducted to establish face and content validity of the ATBI. Reliability analyses were conducted twice on the 2 separate pilot tests using a Cronbach alpha set a priori at .70 and an item-to-total correlation.

The second pilot test of the ATBI with the 4 constructs was determined reliable (emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, alpha = .85; administrative responsibility, alpha = .82; time commitment, alpha = .86; and organizational support, alpha = .80); however, some items within 2 constructs appeared suspect with low item-to-total correlations (<0.25).

The second administration of the ATBI produced an acceptable response rate. All 4 constructs were reliable; however, the suspect items within the constructs need further investigation. Researchers need to evaluate the conceptual worth of these items to the entire instrument.