Justus N. Agumba

Evaluating the Influence of Nutrition Determinants on Construction Workers' Food Choices.

Nutritional knowledge as well as economic, social, biological, and cultural factors have been known to determine an individual’s food choices. Despite the existence of research on the factors which influence nutrition globally, there is little known about the extent to which these factors influence the food choices of construction workers, which in turn influence their health and safety during construction activities. The present article investigates the extent to which construction workers’ nutrition is influenced by nutritional knowledge, as well as economic, environmental, social, psychological, and physiological factors. A field questionnaire survey was conducted on site construction workers in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. Principal components analysis and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Findings revealed that consumption of foods termed alternative foods including dairy products, eggs, nuts, fish, and cereals, was influenced by nutritional knowledge and resources. Foods termed traditional core foods were influenced by cultural background; foods termed secondary core foods comprising fruits and vegetables were influenced by economic factors, resources, and cultural background; while foods termed core foods were mostly influenced by nutritional knowledge. By providing evidence of the factors which most influence selection and consumption of certain foods by construction workers, relevant nutrition interventions will be designed and implemented, taking cognizance of these factors.

The implementation of health and safety practices: Do demographic attributes matter?

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to investigate the personnel attributes perception on reliable and valid health and safety (H&S) practices within small- and medium-sized construction enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa. It explores whether these valid and reliable H&S practices could be implemented based on the demographic attributes, namely, years of experience in the construction industry, number of years working in the current organisation and educational level. Design/methodology/approach – A mixed method approach was used to conduct this research, namely, Delphi and questionnaire survey. A structured questionnaire consisting of 31 H&S practices categorised into five major H&S practices was developed from extensive literature review and the participation of 20 purposive sampled H&S experts. Sixteen H&S experts completed four iterations. A convenient sample of 1,450 SMEs was obtained. In total, 228 questionnaires were returned, of which 216 responses were useable for analysis. The data were anal...

Validity and reliability of a questionnaire developed to explore nutrition determinants among construction workers in Gauteng, South Africa

Objectives: The nutrition of construction workers is related to their health and safety (H&S) at work. Research on the factors influencing construction workers’ food choices and overall nutrition is limited, in South Africa and indeed Africa as a whole. The present paper aims to develop and validate a questionnaire on factors influencing construction workers’ food choices. Design: The study adopted a quantitative approach; 42 items, divided into six constructs, were used to develop a field-survey questionnaire after a detailed literature review. Setting: The study was conducted on eight construction sites (consisting of five building construction and three road construction sites), chosen through heterogeneity sampling, in Midrand, Centurion, Johannesburg and Samrand. Subjects: Participants included construction workers actively involved in site activities. Outcome measures: Principal components analysis (PCA) was conducted to examine the structures and validity of the constructs. Cronbach’s alpha test and mean inter-item correlations were used to examine internal consistency reliability. Results: After repeated factor analysis, the questionnaire on food-choice factors revealed seven different factors: food context, biological factors, nutritional knowledge, personal ideas and systems, economic factors, resources and cultural background. These factors explained 60.09% variance. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranged from 0.62 to 0.85, signifying good internal consistency reliability. Conclusion: The determinants of construction workers’ food choices are vital considerations when designing and implementing nutrition interventions in the South African construction industry. Future research can adopt the instrument and developed model when conducting psychometric evaluations of construction workers’ food-choice determinants.