Abstract

KULAKOVA, Olga et al. Universality of the construct Maslach Burnout Inventory in a Latin American context. Acta de investigación psicol [online]. 2017, vol.7, n.2, pp.2679-2690. ISSN 2007-4719.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aipprr.2017.05.001.

The universal use of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and its versions has created a framework of controversial inferences about the MBI’s Anglo-Saxon foundation. The study analyzes the universality of the MBI burnout construct in a Latin American context, examining its validity, through exploratory, confirmatory factor analysis plus reliability; 505 Nicaraguan teachers participated in the study; 41% of the items did not surpass the factorial loads. The major inquiring points out to the inferences of the Depersonalization and Emotional exhaustion was consistent and with acceptable reliability. The model of Confirmatory Factor Analysis with the best fit showed that burnout can be interpreted as part of a single latent variable. It was concluded that the MBI construct, as proposed, does not show enough weight to assume its universality among heterogeneous cultures. The inconsistencies found in Depersonalization and Personal Realization give indications that it is a specific phenomenon linked to particular cultural contexts.

Keywords : Burnout construct; Validity of the construct; Maslach Burnout Inventory-MBI; Latin-American context; Nicaragua.