Structural Links Between Psychosocial Risks and Burnout Among Peruvian Miners

Abstract

Burnout syndrome is a major occupational health concern in high‑pressure sectors such as mining, where physical, cognitive, and emotional demands coexist with organizational and work‑family stressors. The objective of this study was to examine the structural associations between psychosocial risk factors and burnout dimensions among mining workers in Peru, employing a path analysis within a structural equation modeling framework.

A quantitative, non‑experimental, cross‑sectional study was conducted with 260 miners selected through directed non‑probability sampling. Psychosocial risks were measured using the SUSESO/ISTAS21 questionnaire, and burnout symptoms were assessed with the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Descriptive statistics and path analysis were performed using SPSS and AMOS, with 2,000 bootstrap resamples to estimate standard errors.

Methods

Psychological demands positively associated with emotional exhaustion (β = 0.298). Active work and skill development showed negative relationships with emotional exhaustion (β = −0.429) and depersonalization (β = −0.361). Higher scores in social support and leadership quality correlated positively with emotional exhaustion (β = 0.402) and depersonalization (β = 0.441). Depersonalization correlated positively with emotional exhaustion (β = 0.400), while emotional exhaustion was negatively correlated with personal accomplishment (β = −0.917). The model explained approximately 38 % of the variance in depersonalization, 52 % in emotional exhaustion, and 66 % in personal accomplishment.

Results

Findings support a multidimensional model of simultaneous associations between psychosocial work conditions and burnout dimensions. Because the study design is cross‑sectional, coefficients should not be interpreted as causal or temporally ordered effects.

Burnout syndrome is a central concern for workers in environments marked by continuous physical, intellectual, and affective demands (Asare et al., 2021; Edú‑Valsania et al., 2022; Zhang et al., 2024). Recent reviews of the Job Demands‑Resources (JD‑R) theory identify high job demands as a primary correlate of burnout, while resources such as autonomy, feedback, development opportunities, and social support are linked to better occupational wellbeing (Bakker et al., 2023; Kaschka et al., 2024). These dynamics are especially relevant in mining, where harsh physical conditions, long or rotating shifts, geographic isolation, and work‑family interference overlap with organizational stressors (Cevallos et al., 2023; Schütte et al., 2014). Recent mining research also highlights the importance of burnout and psychological wellbeing in this occupational group (Tian et al., 2024). Accordingly, this study examines psychosocial work conditions and burnout dimensions as simultaneous structural associations, without assuming temporal or causal effects.

Discussion

Multiple studies have explored the link between psychosocial factors and burnout in workers exposed to adverse conditions (Cevallos et al., 2023; de Groene et al., 2016; Jaladara & Hasanbasri, 2024; Matamala Pizarro & Aguayo Fuenzalida, 2021; Morales‑Cevallos et al., 2025). In one study of industrial workers and miners, an 86.5 % burnout prevalence was reported, significantly associated with effort‑reward imbalance (OR = 2.16; 95 % CI = 1.78–2.61; p < 0.001) (Lu et al., 2022), confirming that high‑requirement, low‑reward organizational structures foster emotional exhaustion and work demotivation. Similar research in mining identified workload, physical risk exposure, and production pressure as cumulative factors affecting mental health, suggesting that interactions between organizational and environmental variables increase burnout likelihood (Lu et al., 2020; Milošević et al., 2025). Recent evidence among industrial workers also supports the relevance of organizational fit for understanding burnout.

Introduction

Hongsiri et al. (2026) examined six Professional Life Domains—demand, control, reward, community, fairness, and values—and found that mismatch across all six domains associates with burnout. This framework complements the JD‑R perspective, emphasizing that burnout can arise when workers experience persistent misalignment between occupational demands, control, rewards, interpersonal community, fairness perception, and personal or organizational values. These domains overlap with psychological demands, active work, skill development, social support, leadership quality, and rewards, providing additional theoretical grounding for the proposed structural associations.

In the specific mining context, recent studies have deepened the identification of psychosocial factors linked to occupational stress and their relationship with burnout (Dignard et al., 2025; Moreira & Lucca, 2025; Nel & Kotzé, 2017). A study in mining service companies found that approximately 20.95 % of workers exhibited significant occupational stress levels, with statistically significant relationships between psychosocial variables such as job demands, social support, and organizational recognition (p ≤ 0.05) (Pratama & Susilowati, 2024).