Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction: An Innovative Workshop to reduce Stress and Improve the Performance of Construction Professionals

The construction industry is known to be a stressful, and construction professionals (CPs) face a great deal of stress at work that may harm their performance. In recent years, the popularity of mindfulness for managing stress has grown. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) workshops are considered an innovative approach to managing stress and improving performance. However, this new approach has not yet been explored in the construction industry. This study aims to investigate the impact of MBSR workshops on CPs, by comparing the mean differences in pre- and post-workshop between MBSR and control groups. A questionnaire survey was administered before and after the MBSR workshop. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted individually after the completion of the workshop. An independent t-test, Pearson correlation and contextual analysis were used to examine differences in mindfulness characteristics, emotional stress, and organizational performance. The findings revealed that most of the mindfulness characteristic items received significantly higher scores among the MBSR participants as compare to non-participants. The results of all analysis (i.e., independent t-test, Pearson correlation, and contextual analysis) show that mindfulness characteristics have a direct influence on CPs, improving their organizational performance by reducing their emotional stress. Therefore, this study reveals that MBSR workshops have a practical impact, both reducing stress and improving performance. It is thus recommended to introduce this new approach in organizations, particularly in the construction industry. Finally, we also propose new directions for further research, including longitudinal studies to identify the long-term effects of MBSR training in the construction industry.