Description

The Scale for Investigating Self-Esteem and Professional Burnout (SISE-B) is a psychometric instrument designed to assess the psychological well-being of professionals working in demanding occupational environments, particularly within the education and healthcare sectors. The scale combines theoretical concepts from Ellis’s theory of self-esteem and Maslach’s model of professional burnout, providing an integrated assessment of both positive self-evaluation and occupational exhaustion.

The instrument focuses on two important psychological dimensions that influence professional functioning. Self-esteem reflects individuals’ perceptions of their personal abilities, professional competence, and sense of self-worth, while professional burnout refers to the psychological consequences of prolonged occupational stress, including emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced feelings of professional accomplishment.

The SISE-B is particularly relevant for professionals exposed to high emotional demands, interpersonal responsibilities, and continuous occupational pressures, where both self-perception and burnout levels may influence job satisfaction, effectiveness, and overall psychological health.

Data Analysis and Use

Data collected through the SISE-B can be analyzed to evaluate the relationship between self-esteem and professional burnout among individuals working in education and healthcare settings. The two components of the scale provide complementary information regarding professionals’ psychological resources and occupational difficulties.

Statistical analysis may include calculation of descriptive indicators such as means, standard deviations, score distributions, and comparisons between different professional groups or demographic categories. The separate assessment of self-esteem and burnout dimensions allows researchers to examine whether higher levels of self-esteem are associated with lower levels of occupational burnout.

Correlation and regression analyses may be used to investigate relationships between SISE-B scores and external variables such as job satisfaction, professional performance, occupational stress, and psychological well-being. The instrument may also be useful for evaluating the effectiveness of interventions designed to strengthen professional confidence and reduce burnout symptoms.

Objective

The primary objective of the SISE-B is to provide a comprehensive assessment of two major psychological factors affecting professionals in demanding work environments: self-esteem and professional burnout.

The self-esteem component aims to evaluate professionals’ self-perception, confidence in their abilities, and belief in their capacity to successfully respond to occupational demands. The burnout component aims to identify the extent to which individuals experience emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced professional accomplishment.

Through this combined assessment, the scale can contribute to understanding the psychological factors associated with professional adaptation, occupational well-being, and effective functioning in education and healthcare environments.

Structure and Content

The SISE-B consists of two main subscales. The first subscale evaluates self-esteem and is based on Ellis’s theoretical approach. It includes positively and negatively formulated statements concerning self-perception, professional confidence, and personal evaluation. An example of an item reflecting this dimension is: “I feel capable of meeting the demands of my job.”

The second subscale evaluates professional burnout and is based on the conceptual framework of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. It examines the three central dimensions of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. An example of an item assessing burnout is: “I feel constantly psychologically exhausted from my job.”

Together, the two subscales provide an integrated view of professionals’ psychological functioning by examining both protective psychological resources and potential occupational difficulties.

Scoring

Participants respond to the SISE-B items using a five-point Likert scale, where responses range from 1 = Never/Strongly Disagree to 5 = Always/Strongly Agree.

The completion time of the instrument is approximately 15–20 minutes. Higher scores on the self-esteem subscale indicate stronger self-confidence, positive self-perception, and greater professional confidence. In contrast, higher scores on the burnout subscale indicate increased levels of occupational burnout and greater risk of psychological exhaustion.

The interpretation of results should consider the two dimensions separately, as high self-esteem and high burnout represent different psychological characteristics and require different approaches to interpretation.

Statistical Analysis

The statistical evaluation of the SISE-B may include reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and validity assessment. The scale demonstrates convergent validity through relationships with established burnout measures, such as the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and predictive validity through associations with outcomes including job satisfaction and professional performance.

The internal consistency of the instrument is reported as high, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients greater than 0.80 for both subscales, indicating satisfactory reliability of the measurements.

Additional statistical procedures, such as factor analysis, may be used to examine the underlying structure of the instrument and confirm whether the proposed dimensions of self-esteem and burnout are adequately represented.

Validity

The SISE-B demonstrates evidence of convergent validity through its relationship with established measures of professional burnout, including the Maslach Burnout Inventory. It also demonstrates predictive validity, as scores are associated with important occupational outcomes such as job satisfaction and professional performance.

These validity characteristics support the usefulness of the instrument for research and assessment of psychological functioning among professionals working in demanding occupational environments.

Reliability

The reliability of the SISE-B is reported as high, with Cronbach’s alpha values exceeding 0.80 for both the self-esteem and burnout subscales.

These findings indicate strong internal consistency, suggesting that the items within each subscale measure coherent psychological constructs. Reliability should nevertheless be reassessed when the instrument is applied to different professional populations or cultural contexts.

References

Ellis, A. (1994). Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy. Birch Lane Press.

Maslach, C., & Jackson, S. E. (1981). The measurement of experienced burnout. Journal of Occupational Behavior, 2(2), 99–113.

Maslach, C., Leiter, M. P., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2001). Job burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 52(1), 397–422.