Health and well-being in the architectural profession and the influence of gender

There is considerable evidence that those working within the construction industry are at risk of poor health and well-being due to a number of stressors. The structure and culture of the construction industry combine to result in stressors for those employed within the sector, namely, long working hours, high workload, job insecurity, low professional worth and poor work life balance. Architects occupy a unique position in the construction industry and may face additional stressors due to their reliance on construction as their sole client. There is also evidence that some architects enter the profession due to a mis-belief that the architect's role is primarily creative. This conflict between expectations and reality may act as an additional stressor. Poor health and well-being may have damaging consequences for the individual, for example, illness, and for the organisation, through reduced productivity and attrition of employees. Women working within the construction industry face a number of additional stressors, including discrimination, poorer career prospects and a paternalistic culture. Similar stressors have been identified for women working within the architectural profession, which have been cited as reasons for women choosing to leave the architectural profession.There is a paucity of research examining health and well-being in the architectural profession, or directly comparing the experiences of men and women within the profession. The main objectives of this thesis were to a) explore levels of health and well-being experienced by architects, b) to determine antecedents and consequences of health and well-being and c) to identify gender differences in antecedents, levels and consequences of health and well-being. A mixed methods approach has been undertaken. The research comprised of two phases, a large scale quantitative questionnaire which identified levels of health and well-being and relationships between antecedents, measures of health and well-being and consequences. Issues raised by the questionnaire were then explored in the second phase of the research; via semi structured interviews with practising architects. The data indicated that architects experience job satisfaction, high work life conflict, high levels of job demands and physical symptoms of stress. Architects' emotional response to work was complex, with high levels of positive and negative emotions being reported. Turnover intentions (desires to leave current job or the architectural profession) were strongly related to work life conflict and also related to job satisfaction, suggesting a relationship between antecedents of health and well-being and consequences. Female architects reported poorer health and well-being on all measures except job demands and affective well-being (emotional response to work), indicating that female architects may be more vulnerable to poorer health and wellbeing. Interview data revealed that many architects enter the profession due to a desire to be creative, but this expectation was not met in reality. Many reported that education had not prepared them for working life, and may have encouraged unhealthy working practices. Many architects felt that the social status of architects was low and this may impact their health and well-being. Female architects reported additional problems, including task restriction, gender stereotyped attitudes and restricted access to clients. These findings were used to adapt an existing generic framework of the relationships between antecedents of health and well-being and consequences. The framework was changed in order to include aspects of working life which. may be of particular relevance to the health and well-being of all architects and for female architects in particular.