Wellbeing & alcohol & other drug use among construction industry apprentices.

The National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA), Flinders University, was funded by SafeWork SA under the WHS Innovative Practice Grant Program to conduct a 12-month project designed to improve psychological wellbeing and reduce alcohol and drug related harm among young workers.
The aims of the research project were to:

1. Assess the initial level of psychological wellbeing and alcohol and other drug (AOD) use among young construction trainees
2. Monitor changes to wellbeing and AOD use over the duration of their first year of training (hypothesising that it may deteriorate over time)
3. Undertake a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of a brief intervention to improve wellbeing and AOD use patterns.

A total of 169 young South Australian trainee construction workers participated in the study. All were male and most (87%) were aged under 24 years of age. Participants worked in the housing (n=68, 40.2%) and commercial (n=45, 26.6%) sectors, or both sectors 32.5% (n=55). More than a third (n=60, 35.5%) were carpentry apprentices, 27.8% (n=47) were electrical or refrigeration apprentices, 18.9% (n=32) plumbing, and 17.8% (n=30) wet trades (bricklaying, plastering, and tiling).