Staff burnout among health professionals refers to a syndrome of physical and emotional exhaustion involving the development of negative job attitudes, a poor professional self-concept, and a loss of empathic concern for clients. The Staff Burnout Scale for Health Professionals (SBS-HP) is a 20-item inventory assessing cognitive, affective, behavioral, and psychophysiological reactions that comprise the burnout syndrome. Three studies were conducted to provide validation evidence for the SBS-HP. Nursing personnel (N=97) completed the SBS-HP and criterion-related validity measures. The SBS-HP data significantly correlated with measures of job turnover, absenteeism, tardiness, discipline, prescription drug use, and personal illness. Burned-out health professionals were more dissatisfied than non-burned-out health professionals with their work, clinical supervision, opportuniites for promotion, and coworkers. Higher levels of burnout were also reliably correlated with higher neglect of job duties and with greater admissions of serious on-the-job mistakes. Additionally, burned-out health professionals worked more traumatic jobs and less desirable schedules. Results suggest that the SBS-HP is a valid measure of the burnout syndrome. (Author/NRB)