Understanding and enhancing responses to distress in the construction industry: protocol for a data linkage study

INTRODUCTION: Past research has shown that construction industry workers are at an elevated risk of suicide, however, to date, no study has examined in detail the characteristics of individuals who work in the construction industry and experience distress. This research aims to understand the characteristics, including sociodemographic characteristics, health services utilisation and contacts with non-clinical services, of individuals working within the construction industry and who experience distress, and to quantify the costs and benefits of different help-seeking pathways. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This study is a data linkage study, based on routinely collected administrative data from construction industry organisations and Queensland Health (QH). Expected outcomes include prevalence of distress, articulated to non-clinical construction industry agencies, descriptive findings on characteristics and help-seeking pathways and health economic analysis. Individuals who experienced distress but who did not contact any of the participating construction industry organisations will not be part of this research. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This data linkage study was approved by Human Research Ethics Committee of The University of Queensland (2021/HE001885). Findings will be presented descriptively to describe the cohort as a whole and stratified by key demographic characteristics, and to provide estimates of prevalence of distress, including timing, frequency and type of contacts. In addition, health economic analysis will be undertaken. Dissemination of findings will be undertaken following consultation of all project investigators, construction industry organisations and peer-led interest groups and lived-experience organisations to ensure translation merit of all findings. Results will be published as peer-reviewed journal articles and publicly available reports.