Measuring autistic burnout: A psychometric validation of the AASPIRE Autistic Burnout Measure in autistic adults

Autistic burnout is characterised by extreme exhaustion, loss of functioning, and reduced tolerance to stimulus, resulting from the cumulative stress associated with navigating a predominantly non-autistic world. To date, in mostly qualitative studies, autistic burnout has been associated with poorer mental health, well-being and life outcomes in autistic adults. To comprehensively investigate autistic burnout, identify affected individuals and evaluate supports, a valid and reliable measure is required. The current study explored the psychometric properties of the AASPIRE Autistic Burnout Measure. The Autistic Burnout Measure and other related measures (camouflaging, mental health) were completed online by 379 autistic adults. The Autistic Burnout Measure demonstrated a predominantly unidimensional structure, with high loadings across all 27 items, excellent internal consistency (ω = 0.98), and reasonable consistency over 12 months (r = 0.59). It also showed sound construct validity, with medium-to-large positive correlations with autistic traits, camouflaging, occupational burnout, depression and anxiety. The Autistic Burnout Measure also effectively differentiated between autistic participants who reported currently experiencing autistic burnout and those who were not (area under the curve = 0.92; 95% confidence interval = [0.86, 0.97]). Our findings indicate that the Autistic Burnout Measure has promising psychometric properties and may be a useful measure in future autism research and practice. However, further validation is necessary to determine whether the unidimensional structure holds across diverse samples.Lay abstractAutistic people have described autistic burnout as an intense experience of physical, emotional, mental and social exhaustion impacting their ability to complete everyday tasks and contributing to poorer well-being. To identify and measure autistic burnout in practice and research, we need a self-report measure that gives accurate and consistent results. In this study, 379 autistic adults completed a recently developed measure of autistic burnout online, the AASPIRE Autistic Burnout Measure. We analysed their ratings to determine whether the measure is reliable (i.e. ratings are consistent), valid (i.e. the tool measures what it says it measures), correctly identifies those currently experiencing burnout, and is associated with other relevant experiences, such as camouflaging, anxiety and depression. The Autistic Burnout Measure was found to be reliable and valid. Autistic adults reporting greater autistic burnout also reported more camouflaging, autistic traits and greater general burnout, depression, and anxiety. The Autistic Burnout Measure was accurate in identifying individuals who reported currently experiencing autistic burnout and those who did not. Overall, our findings suggest that the Autistic Burnout Measure may be suitable for use in research and practice to identify and better understand experiences of autistic burnout.