Lingard, H and Turner, M (2017) Promoting construction workers' health: A multi-level system perspective. Construction Management and Economics, 35(5), pp. 239-253. ISSN 01446193
Abstract
Construction workers suffer poor mental and physical health. To address this, organizations have implemented behavioural health promotion programmes. However, targeting workers' lifestyle behaviour without addressing relevant environmental factors is unlikely to produce significant or sustained improvement. An ecological perspective offers a different way of understanding the determinants of health, reflecting the interplay of factors at multiple levels and the dynamic, reciprocal and non-linear relationships between them. Qualitative data collected during focus groups and in interviews with workers and managers were analysed to explore factors impacting the effectiveness of a health promotion programme implemented at two work sites in Queensland, Australia. A qualitative causal loop diagram identifying determinants of construction workers' health behaviour was developed. The findings suggest that the adoption of healthy behaviours is influenced by factors operating at and between individual, family, workplace and industry levels. These factors suggest key leverage points that can be addressed in the design of future health promotion interventions for the construction industry. The research provides qualitative evidence of the need to consider workers' health in a holistic way and develop multi-level strategies to produce improved health behaviour and outcomes in the construction industry.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | health; health and safety; system dynamics; workforce |
| Index terms: | programme, Queensland, strategy, focus group, health and safety, interview, manager, health promotion, environmental factor, evidence, system dynamics, Australia, lifestyle, construction worker, determinant, construction industry, effectiveness, health behaviour |
| Subjects: | health behaviours and lifestyles, computing systems, practitioner, evaluation and assessment methods, data collection methods, risk assessment, environmental science, Geography, health safety and environment, public and environmental health, performance management, management, industry analysis, demography, project controls |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Health and Safety, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Risk Management, Roles and Professions, Sustainability, Digital Applications, Urban Studies, Quality Management, Time Control |
| 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