Assessing Burnout in Daily Life: Empirically Derived Short Versions of the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT) for Capturing Momentary and Daily Burnout

Burnout is increasingly recognized as a dynamic state that fluctuates in daily life. Existing measures assess burnout as a stable trait, limiting their suitability for experience sampling (ESM) and daily diary studies. To address this gap, we developed short versions of the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT) specifically for ecological momentary assessment (BAT-M) and daily diary designs (BAT-D). Based on employee data from a 2-week ESM study (N = 129; 3,087 observations), we applied Ant Colony Optimization to select eight momentary and eight daily items (two per core dimension) that maximize psychometric quality while minimizing participant burden. Both scales demonstrated excellent model fit and substantial within-person variability, correlated strongly with trait burnout, and demonstrated meaningful associations with job demands and stress. Latent Markov Factor Analysis indicated partial but non-negligible measurement noninvariance, providing valuable insights. Overall, these tools enable valid, low-burden assessment of burnout dynamics, offering opportunities for research and intervention development.