Measuring sense of place in project environments to promote positive mental wellbeing

Abstract

Sense of place describes people's perceptions of the distinguishing qualities and attributes of an environment that shape positive feelings of attachment and promote mental wellbeing. The purpose of the research was to identify the qualities and attributes of project work environments that contribute to the development of a sense of place, and to develop and test a survey instrument designed to measure these qualities and attributes. Characteristics of project work environments with the potential to create a positive wellbeing-promoting sense of place were identified from the extant literature. A survey instrument was developed, drawing on existing validated scales, to measure the extent to which a positive sense of place is present in project work environments. The survey tool was tested in two studies conducted in construction projects in New Zealand. The first study tested the construct validity and reliability of the survey instrument, and the extent to which the proposed components were associated with workers’ positive mental wellbeing. The second study confirmed that the sense of place components are distinct and can be measured reliably using the survey instrument. Organisations can potentially use the survey instrument to evaluate the extent to which project work environments are supportive of workers’ mental wellbeing, and to inform the development of strategies specifically focused on creating work environments that are likely to promote mental wellbeing amongst project workers.