Work-related strain effects and coping strategies among South African construction professionals

The working environment in the construction industry is demanding and many construction professionals experience high levels of workplace stress, leading to physiological, psychological and sociological strain effects. The coping strategies that construction professionals adopt to manage work-related stress can be positive (e.g., physical and intellectual counter-measures) or negative (e.g. unhealthy lifestyles and substance abuse). A purposively-selected sample of thirty-six construction professionals (comprising architects, project managers, construction managers, engineers and quantity surveyors) were surveyed regarding their perceptions of stress effects and coping strategies for mitigating stress. Gender- and discipline-based differences in perceptions were also investigated. The highest-ranked physiological strains in terms of perceived intensity were fatigue, disturbed sleep, an inability to relax, and skeleto-muscular pain. The psychological strains of frustration, anger / irritability, anxiety, tenseness and feeing dissatisfied were perceived to be the most intensive. Strain on professional relationships and strain on personal relationships were the highest ranked sociological strains in terms of intensity. No significant difference in perceptions of strains was noticed between genders or discipline groups. Regarding stress coping strategies, respondents perceived non-competitive sporting activity and walking as the most effective physical stress counter-measures. The intellectual stress counter-measures of travel, humour, music, reading and book clubs and focus on smaller, manageable tasks were ranked the highest in terms of effectiveness. With regard to negative coping strategies, respondents ranked confrontation, increased caffeine intake, and “distancing / escape / avoidance” actions as effective negative stress counter-measures. Gender- and discipline-based differences were identified in the rating of some physical and intellectual stress counter-measures but not in the rating of negative stress counter-measures. The research contributes to the understanding of stress effects on construction professionals and provides important implications for the development of targeted stress-management strategies within professional practices and construction organisations.