Tijani, B; Jin, X and Osei-Kyei, R (2021) Critical analysis of mental health research among construction project professionals. Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, 19(2), pp. 467-496. ISSN 1726-0531
Abstract
Mental ill-health among construction project professionals (CPPs) is a significant, persistent and unresolved problem that sparked the proliferation of literature worldwide. Despite the diverse research publications, a systematic review to reveal forms of mental ill-health, cause of mental ill-health and coping is lacking. This paper aims to systematically reviews the existing body of knowledge on mental health in the construction project by analyzing 60 papers published between 1989 and 2020 (years inclusive) using the preferred reporting item for systematic reviews and meta-analysis. Academic journals between 1989 and 2020 were selected for this study because the first published paper on the mental health of construction managers commenced in 1989 and current studies are published in 2020. The findings show that stress, job burnout, depression, anxiety and substance use disorder (SUD) are prominent forms of mental ill-health among CPPs, with an absence of project-related measuring scales for evaluating the mental ill-health symptoms. Moreover, generic stressors including long working hours, time pressure and work overload were used to establish the root causes of mental ill-health by ignoring construction project related stressors for mental ill-health. Problem-focused coping is more efficient than emotional focused coping in mitigating work stress, job burnout, depression, anxiety, but little is known on the influence of coping strategies on SUD. Knowledge gaps and future research directions were identified. This research contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the implications of mental health management on construction projects. The findings of this study contribute toward understanding the need to investigate individual mental ill-health as against the existing practices of considering all forms of mental ill-health as one umbrella. It also challenges limitations in the utilization of generic stressors to determines factors for mental ill-health by the introduction of the Swisse cheese theoretical model.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction project; professional; meta-analysis |
| Index terms: | coping, construction manager, body of knowledge, burnout, mental health, meta-analysis, stressors, depression, systematic literature review, journal, construction project, strategy, publication, anxiety, working hours, work stress |
| Subjects: | profession, health conditions and diseases, management, employment law, knowledge management, psychology, mental health and wellbeing, research dissemination and communication, behavioral psychology, research evaluation and metrics, occupational health and safety management, production management |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Information Management, Roles and Professions, Legal Issues, Health and Safety, Project Management, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
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