Structural associations between psychosocial risks and burnout syndrome among mining workers in Peru

Introduction Burnout syndrome is an important occupational-health concern in highly demanding 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 risks and burnout syndrome among mining workers in Peru through a path-analysis approach within the structural equation modeling framework. Methods A quantitative, applied, non-experimental, cross-sectional study was conducted with 260 mining workers selected through non-probability purposive sampling. Psychosocial risks were assessed with the SUSESO/ISTAS21 questionnaire and burnout with the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Descriptive analyses and path analysis with 2,000 bootstrap resamples were performed using SPSS and AMOS. Results Psychological demands were positively associated with emotional exhaustion (β = 0.298), whereas active work and skill development was inversely associated with emotional exhaustion (β = −0.429) and depersonalization (β = −0.361). Higher psychosocial-risk scores in social support and leadership quality were positively associated with emotional exhaustion (β = 0.402) and depersonalization (β = 0.441). Depersonalization was positively associated with emotional exhaustion (β = 0.400), and emotional exhaustion was inversely associated with personal accomplishment (β = −0.917). The model accounted for approximately 38% of the variance in depersonalization, 52% in emotional exhaustion, and 66% in personal accomplishment. Discussion The findings support a multidimensional pattern of concurrent associations between psychosocial working conditions and burnout. Because the design was cross-sectional, the coefficients should not be interpreted as causal or temporally ordered effects.