Palaniappan, K; Natarajan, R and Dasgupta, C (2023) Prevalence and risk factors for depression, anxiety and stress among foreign construction workers in Singapore–a cross-sectional study. International Journal of Construction Management, 23(14), pp. 2479-2487. ISSN 1562-3599
Abstract
Objectives: The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress among foreign workers in the construction industry in Singapore. Methods: This cross-sectional study used convenience sampling to include participants from three construction companies in Singapore that employed blue-collar workers from Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar,Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines. The DASS-21 (Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scales) questionnaire was used to determine the occurrence of depression, anxiety and stress in the study population and a demographic and work environment questionnaire was used to account for the additional factors that could influence the personal and workplace characteristics. Results: The study included 348 participants. About 29% of the study population exhibited moderate to extremely severe levels of depression, 37% showed moderate to extremely severe levels of anxiety and 33% expressed moderate to extremely severe levels of stress. Ethnicity and lack of awareness of job scope were found to be significant predictors of all three parameters studied, namely, depression, anxiety and stress. Regression analyses revealed that older workers were less prone to anxiety and lack of job clarity was correlated to higher levels of anxiety and stress. Conclusions: The findings of this study indicate that all three aspects considered in this study, namely, depression, anxiety and stress are widely prevalent among the foreign construction workers in Singapore and effective measures needs to be put in place in order to reduce the same and provide a safe work environment for them. One measure that can be utilized to reduce the mental illness symptoms is to provide clear indications on the workers' job scope as that was found to be a significant predictor in this study. Further studies need to be done to figure out other possible intervention measures that could be put in place to improve the mental wellbeing of foreign construction workers in Singapore.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | anxiety; construction sector; depression; foreign workers; stress |
| Index terms: | regression analysis, India, construction worker, construction industry, work environment, sampling, Thailand, risk factor, Bangladesh, foreign worker, illness, depression, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, construction sector, China, questionnaire, anxiety, population, well-being, construction company, Myanmar |
| Subjects: | management, Geography, demography, health conditions and diseases, industry analysis, environmental hazards, statistical analysis, data collection methods, business, mental health and wellbeing, organization, practitioner |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Health and Safety, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Roles and Professions, Sustainability, Urban Studies, International Construction, Organizational Design |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here