The Lund University Checklist for Incipient Exhaustion-a cross-sectional comparison of a new instrument with similar contemporary tools

• Published in: BMC public health Vol. 16; no. 352; p. 350
• Main Authors: Persson, Roger, Österberg, Kai, Viborg, Njördur, Jönsson, Peter, Tenenbaum, Artur
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 21-04-2016; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Adult; Analysis; Burnout; Burnout, Professional - epidemiology; Checklist; Chronic illnesses; Cross-Sectional Studies; Early experience; Exhaustion; Exhaustion disorder; Fatigue; Fatigue - diagnosis; Fatigue - epidemiology; Female; Folkhälsovetenskap, global hälsa, socialmedicin och epidemiologi; Health aspects; Health problems; Health Sciences; Humans; Hälsovetenskap; Hälsovetenskaper; Interference; Inventories; Job stress; KEDS; LUCIE; Male; Mass Screening - instrumentation; Medical and Health Sciences; Medical screening; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Mental disorders; Middle Aged; Neurosis; Occupational health; Personality traits; Population; Prevalence; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Public health; Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology; Questionnaires; Rehabilitation; Reproducibility of Results; s-ED; Sampling methods; Secondary schools; Self employment; Self Report; Sick leave; Stress; Stress, Psychological - psychology; Studies; Substance abuse treatment; Surveys and Questionnaires; Sweden - epidemiology; Work - psychology; Sweden; LUCIE; Exhaustion disorder; Burnout; Personality traits; KEDS; s-ED; Stress
• ISSN: 1471-2458; 1471-2458
• DOI: 10.1186/s12889-016-3001-5

Stress-related health problems (e.g., work-related exhaustion) are a societal concern in many postindustrial countries. Experience suggests that early detection and intervention are crucial in preventing long-term negative consequences. In the present study, we benchmark a new tool for early identification of work-related exhaustion-the Lund University Checklist for Incipient Exhaustion (LUCIE)-against other contextually relevant inventories and two contemporary Swedish screening scales.
A cross-sectional population sample (n = 1355) completed: LUCIE, Karolinska Exhaustion Disorder Scale (KEDS), Self-reported Exhaustion Disorder Scale (s-ED), Shirom-Melamed Burnout Questionnaire (SMBQ), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9), Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ), Big Five Inventory (BFI), and items concerning work-family interference and stress in private life.
Increasing signs of exhaustion on LUCIE were positively associated with signs of exhaustion on KEDS and s-ED. The prevalence rates were 13.4, 13.8 and 7.8 %, respectively (3.8 % were identified by all three instruments). Increasing signs of exhaustion on LUCIE were also positively associated with reports of burnout, job demands, stress in private life, family-to-work interference and neuroticism as well as negatively associated with reports of job control, job support and work engagement.
LUCIE, which is intended to detect pre-stages of ED, exhibits logical and coherent positive relations with KEDS and s-ED as well as other conceptually similar inventories. The results suggest that LUCIE has the potential to detect mild states of exhaustion (possibly representing pre-stages to ED) that if not brought to the attention of the healthcare system and treated, may develop in to ED. The prospective validity remains to be evaluated.