The mental health of migrant workers in the Australian construction sector: a literature review

Abstract

There is a high proportion of migrants in the construction industry; however, little is known of the factors that increase the risk of mental health difficulties among this group and in particular in Australia. Research studies on the mental health of migrant construction workers in Australia were searched in Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed and Google Scholar. The literature search found seven studies, of which five included a subgroup of migrant construction workers or stakeholders in the field and two studies sampled specifically from this population but from higher educational backgrounds. Three of the studies used cross-sectional surveys and the other four used qualitative interviews in combination with either other qualitative techniques or a literature review. The limited evidence suggests that migrant construction workers living in Australia are likely to experience psychological distress in the context of adverse working conditions, financial hardships and interpersonal stressors. Common methodological limitations of the literature reviewed for this paper were a lack of comparison groups, combined samples of workers from different occupations, limited use of standardized measures of psychological distress and a focus mainly on occupational factors. Implications include operationalizing interventions in a manner that is accessible to migrants and their culture. The review stresses that more research is required in this field sampling specifically from the migrant construction workers population, using comparison groups, prospective designs, and qualitative methods to help better understand the unique experiences of mental ill-health in this group.