Advancing mental health management in construction using neurophysiological approaches: a systematic review

Mental health issues are increasingly recognized as critical concerns in the construction industry. While traditional assessment methods rely on subjective self-reports, emerging neuropsychological tools offer objective and real-time measures of workers' psychological states. However, there is limited understanding of how these tools have been applied to manage mental health for construction workers in the existing literature. Therefore, this study aims to examine the application of neurophysiological tools in managing the mental health of construction workers through a systematic review. A systematic search was conducted and 41 eligible studies were reviewed. The results were categorized based on a conceptual framework including four domains: appraisal of stressors, assessment of psychophysiological outcomes, coping interventions, and outcomes of mental health conditions. The findings revealed that (1) most studies focused on the assessment of psychophysiological outcomes, particularly stress, emotional states, and mental fatigue, demonstrating the feasibility of applying neurophysiological methods to capturing real-time psychological responses; (2) few studies addressed the appraisal of stressors or coping interventions, revealing a critical gap in understanding how construction workers perceive and manage stress in real time; and (3) electroencephalography (EEG) emerged as the most widely used method in measuring diverse mental health conditions, while the increasing adoption of multimodal integration highlights a growing trend toward more comprehensive, reliable, and accurate assessments of workers' mental states. A key contribution of this study is the development of one of the first integrative frameworks linking neuropsychological tools with holistic mental health management in construction. It advances the current state of knowledge by clarifying the distinct role of physiological metrics (i.e., detection, monitoring, validation, and association) across four domains and offering an in-depth understanding of the practical applicability of neuropsychological methods in assessing mental health conditions. The framework also provides a practical guide for applying neurophysiological tools in mental health management of construction workers for both researchers and practitioners.