Developing an assessment tool for evaluating the mentally healthy levels of project organizations in Australia

The c4SMC received AU$5000 as grant funding from School of Built Environment Strategic Research Funds 2020 (Innovation Immersion Fund) to conduct an industry relevant research project titled ‘Developing an assessment tool for evaluating the mentally healthy levels of project organizations in Australia’. This research is led by chief investigator Associate Professor Xiao-Hua Jin, co-investigators Professor Srinath Perera and Dr Robert Osei-Kyei, and supported by researcher Bashir Tijani.

Construction project organization is a stressful working environment that exposes project management practitioners (PMPs) to poor mental health, which is a significant social and economic problem in Australia. The NSW government has thus launched training on how business can attain mentally healthy workplace. However, an assessment tool in evaluating the psychologically healthy level of the project environment is lacking. It is also difficult for the government to assess the performance of project workplace in compliance with psychologically healthy environment. In fact, without knowledge of the mental health status of project organisations, the existing mental health interventions cannot be implemented effectively.

In this regard, this project aims to develop an assessment tool, which will be in the form of a dashboard, using mental health indicators. Apparently, the mental health assessment tool will make it possible for project managers and stakeholders to accurately and reliably evaluate the mental healthiness of their project organisations. More importantly, with the mental health assessment tool, project managers can compare the mental health status of different project organisations on the same basis.