BBI Assessment, Research & Privacy Information

Barends Burnout Inventory (BBI)

Barends Psychology Practice

Last updated: October 24, 2026

The Barends Burnout Inventory (BBI) is a free online questionnaire designed to help you reflect on burnout-related experiences in the context of work. After completing the questionnaire, you receive personalized results based on your answers.

This page explains how your personal data are processed when you use the BBI, how you can access your results, and how your assessment data may be used for research and development if you choose to participate.

Completing the BBI and participating in BBI research are separate activities. Processing your questionnaire responses is necessary to provide your personalized results. However, participation in BBI research is entirely optional. You can complete the questionnaire and receive your results without agreeing to research use.

The BBI is currently undergoing research and evaluation. It is not a medical or psychological diagnostic instrument.

Part A — Using the BBI Questionnaire

1. Who is responsible for your personal data?

The data controller responsible for the BBI is:

Niels Johannes Barends s.p.
Trading as Barends Psychology Practice
Vaše 16i
1215 Medvode
Slovenia

Email: info@barendspsychology.com
Telephone: +386 40 681 058

Additional information about our processing of personal data 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 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: experiences of physical and mental tiredness associated with work.
Mental Distance: psychological distance, reduced interest, or disengagement from work.
Cognitive Impairment: difficulties involving concentration, attention, memory, or mental organization.
Emotional Impairment: difficulties managing emotional responses in work-related situations.

The questionnaire generates scores and personalized interpretations based on your responses.

The BBI is not a diagnostic instrument. Its results should not be interpreted as a diagnosis of burnout or any other medical or psychological condition. If you are concerned about your health or psychological well-being, consider consulting a qualified healthcare professional.

3. What information is processed when you complete the BBI?

To administer the questionnaire and generate your results, the BBI processes information such as:

your responses to questionnaire items;
your responses to relevant work-related context questions;
calculated scores for the four BBI dimensions;
personalized interpretations derived from your responses;
questionnaire, scoring, and interpretation version information;
assessment progress and completion information;
assessment identifiers used to manage and retrieve your results;
your consent choices and associated records;
information connecting repeat assessments, where you choose to link them;
technical information necessary for operating, protecting, and maintaining the assessment service.

Some of your responses may reveal information concerning your psychological health or well-being. Such information may qualify as special-category personal data concerning health under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The free English BBI questionnaire does not require you to provide your name or email address. A first name may be provided voluntarily. Results are not sent by email.

4. Why is this information processed?

Your assessment information is processed to:

present and administer the BBI questionnaire;
save your responses and assessment progress;
calculate your BBI dimension scores;
generate your personalized results and downloadable PDF;
allow you to retrieve your results using your Results ID;
manage your consent choices and privacy requests;
maintain the security, reliability, and integrity of the assessment service;
support linked repeat assessments where applicable.

Your responses are not used for BBI research and instrument development unless you separately consent to that purpose, as explained in Part B.

5. What is the legal basis for processing your assessment data?

Providing the BBI questionnaire and personalized results requires processing your assessment responses.

Under Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR, we process personal data necessary to provide the assessment service you request.

Because questionnaire responses may contain information concerning psychological health or well-being, we also request your explicit consent under Article 9(2)(a) of the GDPR to process such information for administering the questionnaire and generating your personalized results.

This consent is separate from consent for optional research participation.

6. What am I consenting to when I begin the questionnaire?

Before beginning the questionnaire, you are asked to explicitly consent to the processing of your questionnaire responses, including information concerning your psychological health and well-being, for the purpose of evaluating your burnout-related symptoms and generating personalized results.

This consent is requested through a separate checkbox that is not selected by default.

You must actively select this checkbox to begin the questionnaire because the assessment cannot be provided without processing your responses.

Your consent is recorded separately from your optional research-consent choice.

Agreeing to the processing necessary for your assessment does not mean that you agree to participate in BBI research.

7. How can I access my results?

After completing the BBI, you receive personalized results that include your dimension scores and interpretations based on your responses.

You may also download a PDF version of your results.

A unique Results ID is associated with your assessment. This identifier allows the assessment service to retrieve your results without requiring an account or email address.

Keep your Results ID private. Anyone who obtains a valid Results ID may potentially be able to access the associated results, depending on the access controls in place.

The Results ID should not be treated as proof of identity when requesting access to additional personal information or exercising data-protection rights.

Results access may be limited or withdrawn in accordance with the applicable retention, consent-withdrawal, and security arrangements.

8. Can I withdraw consent for processing my assessment data?

Yes. You can withdraw your core-service consent using the withdrawal function available with your BBI results or by contacting
info@barendspsychology.com.

Withdrawal stops further assessment-service processing that depends on this consent and closes access to the associated personalized results and PDF.

Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal. Certain records may continue to be processed where an independent legal basis permits or requires this, including the handling and documentation of privacy requests.

Withdrawing consent does not automatically erase your assessment. You may request erasure separately or together with your withdrawal.

Erasure requests may require verification and consideration of applicable legal obligations or exceptions.

Withdrawing core-service consent and withdrawing consent for optional BBI research are separate actions.

9. How long are assessment data retained?

Operational assessment data are retained only for as long as necessary for their documented purposes or where applicable law permits or requires continued retention.

We review the continuing necessity of retaining operational assessment information at least quarterly.

Different categories of information, including incomplete assessments, completed assessments, consent records, privacy-request records, and research datasets, may have different retention requirements.

We do not currently promise automatic deletion of assessments after a fixed number of days or automatic expiry of Results IDs.

Where information is no longer necessary, it is deleted or irreversibly anonymized unless continued retention is justified or required by law.

Deletion from the active database does not necessarily remove information immediately from protected disaster-recovery backups. Backup copies are managed according to applicable backup-retention and restoration procedures.

We retain limited confidential records relating to privacy requests and participant-data lifecycle operations for 12 months after the relevant case is closed.

Longer retention is permitted only where necessary for a documented legal obligation, dispute, or legal hold. Such exceptions are documented and reviewed periodically.

Part B — Optional BBI Research and Development

10. What is the purpose of BBI 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. Is research participation required?

No.

Research participation is entirely voluntary.

You can complete the BBI 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.

The optional research-consent checkbox is separate from the required assessment-processing consent checkbox and is not selected by default.

14. What is the legal basis for BBI research?

BBI research participation is based on your consent under Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR.

Because BBI responses may reveal information relating to psychological functioning or well-being and may qualify as special-category personal data concerning health, your explicit consent under Article 9(2)(a) is also requested for processing such information for BBI research and development.

Your research consent is requested separately from the consent necessary to provide the assessment service and separately from acceptance of the BBI Terms and Conditions.

15. What exactly am I consenting to for research?

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.

16. Can I withdraw my research 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.

Information already included in completed research or previously exported datasets is not automatically deleted when you withdraw. Where such information remains identifiable or pseudonymized, requests for its removal will be assessed under applicable data-protection law.

Genuinely anonymous aggregate findings that can no longer be connected to you cannot subsequently be removed as your personal data.

If you also want to request deletion of your assessment data, you may make that request separately.

17. 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, including whether identifiable or pseudonymized information remains necessary for the research purposes.

Personal data that are no longer necessary are deleted or irreversibly anonymized unless longer retention is required or otherwise permitted by law.

Genuinely anonymous research findings that can no longer be linked to identifiable individuals are not subject to the same personal-data retention requirements.

18. Will individual research 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.

19. 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.

Part C — Data Protection and Administration

20. Who may access BBI 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.

Access is managed according to the responsibilities and technical requirements associated with those activities.

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

21. Which technical service providers are involved?

The BBI uses external technical services to operate the questionnaire, manage assessment information, provide database infrastructure, and support security and administrative functions.

These include:

Replit: application hosting and managed database services;
Clerk: authentication used to protect restricted administrative access;
Cloud infrastructure and security providers: infrastructure, networking, database management, and security services used by the hosting platform.

The current free English questionnaire does not require payment or the submission of an email address to receive results.

Technical providers may process information needed to provide their services, including infrastructure, security, and operational information.

For further information about service providers and personal-data processing, contact
info@barendspsychology.com.

22. Where are BBI data processed, and are there international transfers?

The BBI operates using cloud-based application and database infrastructure.

The Production database is hosted through Replit-managed infrastructure in Frankfurt, Germany.

However, the location of the database does not mean that all technical processing, support, or administrative access necessarily takes place within Germany or the European Economic Area.

Service providers and their subprocessors may operate internationally. Where personal data are transferred outside the European Economic Area, the applicable GDPR requirements and transfer safeguards must be observed.

Depending on the circumstances, these safeguards may include adequacy decisions, standard contractual clauses, and supplementary measures where necessary.

You may request further information about relevant providers, processing locations, and international transfers by contacting
info@barendspsychology.com.

23. 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 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, seek appropriate professional assistance rather than relying on the BBI results.

24. Are there direct benefits from participating in 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.

25. 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.

For privacy and security reasons, we may need to verify your identity or your relationship to an assessment before fulfilling certain requests.

Possession of a Results ID alone may not be sufficient to establish identity for every type of request.

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

26. 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

Email: gp.ip@ip-rs.si
Telephone: +386 1 230 97 30

27. Other applicable documents

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

28. Contact

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