Coping strategies adopted by construction employees to deal with the causes and effects of occupational psychological disorders : a study in Ghana

Abstract

Coping strategies adopted to deal with psychological health issues could have influences on the general health, productivity and task performance of the employee. This study sought to investigate the coping strategies adopted by construction employees to deal with the causes and effects of occupational psychological disorders such as burnout and workaholism. To achieve this aim, the methods of focus group discussions were first employed. A total of 16 semi-structured focus group discussions were held in Ghana, with 90 construction employees. The focus group study revealed 25 coping strategies adopted as efforts to mitigate the causes and 22 coping strategies adopted as responses to moderate the effects of occupational psychological disorders. A quantitative study involving 150 construction professionals and 150 construction trade workers were also conducted in Ghana to investigate the coping strategies that were highly adopted by the two construction working groups. The findings from the study revealed that the construction professionals adopted delegating complicated tasks and seeking medical attention as the most common coping strategies to manage the causes and effects respectively. The construction trade workers were also revealed to adopt withdrawing from work duties or changing jobs and taking in more caffeinated drinks as the most common coping strategies to manage the causes and effects respectively. Exploratory factor analysis was employed, and the findings were put into the main constructs. The causes focused coping strategies were categorized under avoidance, alteration, adaptation, and acceptance. The effects focused coping strategies were also categorized under healthy and unhealthy coping strategies. This study recommends appropriate coping strategies and interventions in the construction industry such as education of construction personnel on the consequences of various coping strategies.