BBI Research & Privacy Information

Barends Burnout Inventory (BBI)

Barends Psychology Practice s.p.

Last updated: September 23, 2026

The Barends Burnout Inventory (BBI) is currently under development and evaluation. This page explains how your assessment data may be used for research and development if you choose to participate.

Participation in BBI research is entirely optional. You can complete the BBI and receive your results without agreeing to the use of your assessment data for research.

1. Who is responsible for the research data?

The data controller is:

Barends Psychology Practice s.p.
Vaše 16
1215 Medvode
Slovenia

Email:
info@barendspsychology.com

Additional information about the processing of personal data by Barends Psychology Practice is available in our Privacy Policy.

2. What is the Barends Burnout Inventory?

The Barends Burnout Inventory is a questionnaire designed to measure burnout-related experiences in the context of work.

The current version is a research version. It is being evaluated to determine how well its questions and underlying dimensions perform before a future version of the instrument is finalized.

The BBI currently examines four areas:

  • Exhaustion
  • Mental Distance
  • Cognitive Impairment
  • Emotional Impairment

The BBI is not a medical or psychological diagnostic instrument. Its results should not be interpreted as a diagnosis of burnout or any other medical or psychological condition.

3. What is the purpose of the research?

The purpose of the BBI research and development program is to evaluate and improve the questionnaire and to develop a psychometrically supported future version of the instrument.

Research may examine:

  • how individual questionnaire items perform;
  • how responses to different questions relate to one another;
  • the reliability and internal structure of the questionnaire;
  • relationships between the different areas measured by the BBI;
  • relationships between BBI responses and work-related context variables;
  • patterns of questionnaire completion;
  • the effect of question presentation and ordering where relevant;
  • changes across linked assessments completed at different times.

Research findings may be used to revise questionnaire items, remove or replace items, modify the structure of the BBI, and develop future scoring or interpretation methods.

4. What information may be used for research?

If you explicitly consent to research participation, the research dataset may include:

  • your responses to BBI questionnaire items;
  • your responses to work-related context questions;
  • calculated BBI dimension scores;
  • descriptive response patterns derived from your answers;
  • questionnaire, scoring, and interpretation version information;
  • question presentation and ordering information;
  • assessment completion and timing information;
  • information from linked repeat assessments, where applicable;
  • your research-consent status;
  • randomly generated research identifiers.

The research dataset is designed not to include your name, email address, or public BBI Results ID.

5. Are the research data anonymous?

No. BBI research data are pseudonymized rather than anonymous.

Your name and email address are not included in research exports. Randomly generated research identifiers are used instead.

A protected connection to the operational assessment record is retained so that research participation can be managed, including recording withdrawal of research consent. This means that the data remain personal data for as long as that connection exists.

If you complete the BBI more than once and choose to link your assessments, a pseudonymous participant identifier may be used to connect eligible assessments for longitudinal analysis.

6. Do I have to participate?

No.

Research participation is voluntary and is separate from completing the BBI.

You can complete the assessment and receive your results without consenting to research.

Choosing not to participate in research does not change your BBI results and does not prevent you from using the assessment.

7. What is the legal basis for the research?

BBI research participation is based on your explicit consent.

Because BBI responses may reveal information relating to psychological functioning or well-being and may be treated as special-category personal data concerning health, explicit consent is also used as the basis for processing such information for BBI research and development where applicable.

Your research consent is requested separately from acceptance of the BBI Terms and Conditions and separately from any request to receive your assessment results by email.

8. What exactly am I consenting to?

If you select the optional research-consent checkbox, you consent to your BBI assessment data being used for research and development of the Barends Burnout Inventory as described on this page.

The consent applies to the BBI research and instrument-development program described here. It does not constitute general consent for unrelated research or unrelated use of your personal data.

9. Can I withdraw my consent?

Yes. You can withdraw your research consent at any time.

Where the withdrawal function is available with your BBI results, you can use the Withdraw research consent option associated with your assessment.

You can also request withdrawal by contacting:
info@barendspsychology.com.

After your withdrawal has been recorded, the affected assessment will no longer be included in newly generated research datasets that rely on your research consent.

Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of research processing that took place before your consent was withdrawn.

Withdrawing from research does not automatically delete your BBI assessment or results and does not affect your ability to access your results.

If you also want to exercise a data-protection right such as requesting deletion of personal data, you may make that request separately.

If information has already been incorporated into genuinely anonymous aggregate results that can no longer be connected to you, those anonymous results cannot subsequently be removed as your personal data.

10. How long are research data retained?

BBI research data are retained for the duration of the BBI instrument-development and validation program and for the period reasonably necessary thereafter to verify, document, and defend the resulting research and instrument-development work.

Retention is reviewed periodically. Personal data that are no longer necessary are deleted or irreversibly anonymized unless longer retention is required by law.

11. Who may have access to the data?

Access to identifiable and pseudonymized BBI data is restricted to persons who require access for the operation, security, administration, analysis, or development of the BBI.

Technical service providers may process data where necessary to provide services such as hosting, database infrastructure, data storage, security, backup, or communication services.

Where service providers process personal data on behalf of Barends Psychology Practice, appropriate data-protection arrangements are used where required by law.

Research exports are designed to exclude your name, email address, and public BBI Results ID.

Further information about service providers, recipients, and international data transfers is available in the Barends Psychology Practice Privacy Policy.

12. Will individual results be published?

We do not intend to publicly publish research results in a form that directly identifies individual participants.

Research findings may be reported in aggregated, statistical, or otherwise appropriately protected form for purposes such as documenting the development and psychometric evaluation of the BBI.

Individual BBI responses will not be presented publicly together with your name or email address as part of the BBI research program without a separate appropriate legal basis or permission.

13. What happens if the BBI changes?

The purpose of the research is to improve the instrument. As a result, later versions of the BBI may differ from the version you completed.

Questions may be retained, revised, replaced, or removed. Scoring and interpretation methods may also change as evidence develops.

The version of the questionnaire and scoring method associated with your assessment is recorded so that research data can be interpreted in the context of the version you actually completed.

Historical results will not be silently rewritten to make them appear as though they were generated using a later version of the BBI.

14. What are the possible risks or disadvantages?

Some questions concern experiences such as exhaustion, psychological distance from work, concentration difficulties, memory difficulties, and emotional reactions at work. Reflecting on these experiences may be uncomfortable for some participants.

As with any system that processes personal data, there is also a risk of unauthorized access or disclosure. Barends Psychology Practice uses technical and organizational safeguards designed to reduce this risk.

The BBI is not intended for emergencies or crisis support. If you are concerned about your health, psychological well-being, or safety, you should seek appropriate professional assistance rather than relying on the BBI results.

15. Are there direct benefits from participating in the research?

There is no guaranteed personal benefit from allowing your data to be used for research.

Your participation may contribute to evaluating and improving the Barends Burnout Inventory and to the development of a better-supported future version of the instrument.

Your BBI results are provided independently of your decision about research participation.

16. Your data-protection rights

Subject to the conditions and exceptions provided by applicable data-protection law, you may have the right to:

  • request access to your personal data;
  • request correction of inaccurate personal data;
  • request erasure of personal data;
  • request restriction of processing;
  • object to processing where an applicable right to object exists;
  • withdraw consent where processing is based on consent;
  • request data portability where applicable;
  • lodge a complaint with a competent supervisory authority.

These rights are not absolute, and their application depends on the circumstances and applicable law.

To exercise a data-protection right, contact:
info@barendspsychology.com.

17. Supervisory authority

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a competent data-protection supervisory authority.

For Barends Psychology Practice, established in Slovenia, the supervisory authority is:

Information Commissioner of the Republic of Slovenia
(Informacijski pooblaščenec)
Dunajska cesta 22
1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia

18. Other applicable documents

For additional information about the processing of personal data and the conditions governing use of the BBI, please see:

19. Contact

If you have questions about BBI research, research consent, the use of your assessment data, or your data-protection rights, please contact:

Barends Psychology Practice s.p.
Vaše 16
1215 Medvode
Slovenia

Email:
info@barendspsychology.com

20. Changes to this information

This information may be updated as the BBI research and development program develops or where changes are required because of changes to the BBI, our data-processing practices, or applicable law.

The current version and its last-updated date will be available on this page.