Scale in development
The Anti-Oppressive Burnout Scale
The AOBS assesses multidimensional burnout among women of the African diaspora. Traditional measures treat burnout mainly as job exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced efficacy. The AOBS examines how present demands, internalized intergenerational messages, cultural expectations, and systemic inequities shape burnout. It also recognizes that the work contributing to exhaustion extends beyond paid employment to include caregiving, emotional labor, and responsibilities within families and communities.
Early psychometric work includes item reduction, exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, and a preliminary scoring structure.
Related talks
“The Burnout We Don’t Name: How Internalized Oppression Shapes Exhaustion in Black Women,” presented at the Maternal Mental Health Conference, 2026.
“The Hidden Weight of Strength: Exploring Burnout in Black Women’s Lives,” presented at Nia Cultural Center, Inc.
Internalized Oppression
Intergenerational messages about strength, self-sacrifice, worth, and the need to “hold it together” can become deeply internalized over time. These messages may shape how we understand our needs, boundaries, and value. Oftentimes, this makes rest feel undeserved, vulnerability feel unsafe, or asking for support feel like a weakness. What began as a way of surviving difficult circumstances can become a pattern that contributes to exhaustion, even when the original circumstances have changed.
Sociocultural Context
For Black women, burnout cannot always be understood apart from the sociocultural contexts in which they live. Family, faith, community, cultural expectations, and the often-unspoken responsibility to remain strong for others can shape the experience of emotional labor and exhaustion in ways that conventional burnout measures may overlook.
Systemic and Environmental Conditions
Where you live, work, and care for others can have a real impact on your well-being. Sometimes the demands of work, family, and caregiving leave little room for rest, support, or feeling safe. For Black women, unfair treatment based on race and gender can add another layer of stress and make it harder to feel supported, valued, and able to simply breathe.
Protective Factors
The scale assesses not only what may contribute to burnout, but also what helps protect against it. It looks at the people, relationships, practices, beliefs, resources, and sources of meaning that support your well being, strengthen resilience, and create opportunities for rest and restoration.