Measurement Invariance of the Counselor Burnout Inventory Across Cultures

Abstract

This study assessed scores from the Counselor Burnout Inventory for factorial validity, convergent and discriminant validity, internal consistency reliability, and measurement invariance across U.S. and Korean counselors. Although evidence existed for factorial validity across both groups, mixed results emerged for the other forms of validity and reliability. Measurement invariance analyses revealed that three of the five factors possessed measurement invariance across cultures, thus allowing for statistically appropriate group comparisons. Of those invariant factors, mean differences indicated that Korean counselors reported higher scores on the Devaluing Clients and Deterioration in Personal Life factors than U.S. counselors. Both cultures experienced similar mean scores on Exhaustion.

• cross-cultural counseling
• counselor burnout
• measurement invariance
• factorial validity
• reliability

Notes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/orPUBLICation of this article.

Funding The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/orPUBLICation of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paul A. Carrola

Paul A. Carrola is a doctoral candidate in the Counselor education and Supervision program at the University of Texas at San Antonio. His current research interests include counselor burnout, counseling in the prison environment and counselor supervision.

Kumlan Yu

Kumlan Yu is assistant professor of Psychology at the Catholic University of Korea. Her research interests include multicultural issues, counselor burnout, and school counseling issues.

Daniel A. Sass

Daniel A. Sass is assistant professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at San Antonio. His research interests include methodological issues related to multivariate statistics, with a central focus on factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

Sang Min Lee

Sang Min Lee is associate professor in the Department of Education at the Korea University. His research interests include counselor burnout and adolescent resilience.