The effectiveness of organisational-level workplace mental health interventions on mental health and wellbeing in construction workers: A systematic review and recommended research agenda

Birgit A Greiner; Caleb Leduc; Cliodhna O'Brien; Johanna Cresswell-Smith; Reiner Rugulies; Kristian Wahlbeck; Kahar Abdulla; Benedikt L Amann; Arlinda Cerga Pashoja; Evelien Coppens; Paul Corcoran; Margaret Maxwell; Victoria Ross; Lars de Winter; Ella Arensman; Birgit Aust

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0277114

The effectiveness of organisational-level workplace mental health interventions on mental health and wellbeing in construction workers: A systematic review and recommended research agenda

PLoS One. 2022 Nov 16;17(11):e0277114. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0277114. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Birgit A Greiner¹, Caleb Leduc^{1

2}, Cliodhna O'Brien², Johanna Cresswell-Smith³, Reiner Rugulies^{4

5}, Kristian Wahlbeck³, Kahar Abdulla⁶, Benedikt L Amann^{7

8

9

10}, Arlinda Cerga Pashoja^{11

12}, Evelien Coppens¹³, Paul Corcoran², Margaret Maxwell¹⁴, Victoria Ross¹⁵, Lars de Winter¹⁶, Ella Arensman^{1

2

17

18}, Birgit Aust⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
² National Suicide Research Foundation, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
³ Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
⁴ National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁵ Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁶ European Alliance Against Depression e.V., Frankfurt, Germany.
⁷ Centre Fòrum Research Unit, Institut de Neuropsiquiatria i Addiccions (INAD), Parc de Salut Mar, Barcelona, Spain.
⁸ Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), Barcelona, Instituto Carlos III, CIBERSAM, Madrid, Spain.
⁹ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Klinikum der Universität, München, Munich, Germany.
¹⁰ Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.
¹¹ London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, England.
¹² Faculty of Sport, Allied Health and Performance Science, St Marys University, London, England.
¹³ LUCAS, Centre for Care Research and Consultancy, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
¹⁴ The Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions Research Unit, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland.
¹⁵ Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, Griffith University, Griffith, Queensland, Australia.
¹⁶ Phrenos Center of Expertise for Severe Mental Illnesses, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
¹⁷ Australian Institute for Research, Griffith University, Mount Gravatt, Australia.
¹⁸ International Association for Suicide Prevention, Washington, DC, United States of America.

Abstract

Objectives: This systematic review assesses the scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of organisational-level workplace mental health interventions on stress, burnout, non-clinical depressive and anxiety symptoms, and wellbeing in construction workers.

Methods: Eligibility criteria were randomized controlled trials (RCTs), cluster randomized controlled trials (cRCTs), controlled or uncontrolled before- and after studies published in peer-reviewed journals between 2010 and May 2022 in five databases (Academic Search Complete, PsycInfo, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science). Outcomes were stress, burnout and non-clinical depression and anxiety symptoms, and wellbeing (primary) and workplace changes and sickness absenteeism (secondary). Quality appraisal was conducted using the QATQS scale, a narrative synthesis was applied. The protocol was published in PROSPERO CRD42020183640 https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42020183640.

Main results: We identified five articles (four studies) with a total sample size of 260, one cRCT, one controlled before- and after study, and two uncontrolled before- and after studies. The methodological quality of one study was rated as moderate, while for three studies it was weak. One study showed significant effects of a work redesign programme in short-term physiological stress parameters, one study showed a significant employee perceived improvement of information flow after supervisor training and one study showed a substantial non-significant decline in sick leave. There was no significant effect on general mental health (SF12) nor on emotional exhaustion. The focus of all studies was on physical health, while detailed mental health and wellbeing measures were not applied.

Main conclusions: The evidence for the effectiveness of organisational-level workplace mental health interventions in construction workers is limited with opportunities for methodological and conceptual improvement. Recommendations include the use of a wider range of mental health and wellbeing outcomes, interventions tailored to the specific workplace and culture in construction and the application of the principles of complex interventions in design and evaluation.

Copyright: © 2022 Greiner et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Systematic Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Absenteeism
Burnout, Professional* / prevention & control
Construction Industry*
Health Status
Humans
Mental Health
Workplace / psychology

Grants and funding

Funding This study is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 848137. The material presented and views expressed here are the responsibility of the author(s) only. The EU Commission takes no responsibility for any use made of the information set out. The funder did not play any role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.