Socio-ecological factors influencing occupational burnout among airport ground staff: Insights from the AIRCARE project.

OBJECTIVE

Airport ground staff face high occupational burnout (OB) due to chronic work stress. Using baseline AIRCARE data, this cross-sectional study applied Ecological Systems Theory to examine micro-, meso-, and macro-level determinants of OB.

METHODS

An online survey assessed OB using the Chinese 15-item Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS) among staff aged 18-60. The study examined 34 variables across microsystem (demographics, lifestyle, chronic diseases, mental health), mesosystem (social support, counseling, safety training), and macrosystem levels (shift work, overtime, heavy lifting, extreme exposure). Four Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) models identified key predictors, followed by hierarchical logistic regression (HLR). Subgroup analysis was performed across customer service and safety, cargo and baggage handling, and aircraft operations.

RESULTS

Among 5759 staff (69.2 % male; median age 35), the OB rate was 33.9 %. LASSO identified key variables across the microsystem (age, gender, education, job position, family income, mental health history, BMI, smoking, drinking, respiratory diseases, coping style, effort-reward imbalance (ERI)), mesosystem (family/friends/other support, psychological counseling, safety training), and macrosystem (shift work, weekend overtime, heavy lifting, exposure to extreme temperatures/biological substances). HLR showed that older age, family income above 10,000 CNY, positive coping style, regular safety training, and less frequent heavy lifting were negatively associated with OB, whereas ERI and exposure to biological substances were positively associated with it.

CONCLUSIONS

OB among airport ground staff is shaped by multilevel socio-ecological factors. Enhancing coping skills, strengthening safety training, reducing physical workload, and addressing ERI and hazardous exposure are critical for reducing OB risk.