Bullying, Workplace, Harassment, Non-Sexual, Harassment, Sexual, Mental Stress, Work-Related Condition, Work-related Injury, Work Related Stress
Conditions
Brief summary
Women are highly underrepresented in the construction skilled trades. In addition to facing the industry's well-known physical risks, women are subjected to discrimination, harassment, and skills under-utilization. As a result, tradeswomen have increased risk for injury, stress-related health effects, and high attrition rates from apprenticeship programs, thus perpetuating their minority status. Mentoring is a well-established technique for learning technical and personal navigation skills in new or challenging social environments. The investigators propose development and dissemination of a mentorship program through local unions of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART), and evaluating its success in reducing women's injury and work stress, while improving retention.
Detailed description
Journey-level workers will be trained on effective mentoring techniques, and matched to approximately 100 women apprentices within participating local unions. Mentees will be followed for two years within the mentorship program, with another 100 women apprentices in locals not receiving the mentorship training similarly followed as controls. The impact of participation in mentoring programs will be measured through apprentices' experience of stress, coping mechanisms, safety climate, and retention in the apprenticeship programs. Specifically, the investigators propose to: Aim 1: Develop a mentorship training program for journey-level sheet metal workers to assist women apprentices in navigating the challenges faced by women in trades Aim 2: Disseminate the training and assist locals in developing effective mentorship programs Aim 3: Evaluate the effectiveness of the mentoring programs specified in Aims 1 and 2 Aim 4: Disseminate the best practices for supporting women apprentices in the skilled trades.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALMentoring program
Apprentice-level female construction workers will be assigned to a mentor who has gone through a rigorous mentorship training. Participants will be asked to meet with a mentor at least 4 times/year in person to discuss the challenges of being a female in construction, learn coping mechanisms, and otherwise discuss the unique challenges of the job environment.
Sponsors
The Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR)
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH/CDC)
University of Washington
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
FEMALE
Age
21 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* All mentors must be journey-level sheet metal workers that are members of the SMART (International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers) Union. All mentees and control apprentices must be apprentice-level sheet metal workers that are members of the SMART Union, and identify as woman.
Exclusion criteria
* No exclusions will be made on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, age, disability or religion for mentors, mentees, and control apprentices. No exclusions will be made on the basis of gender for mentors. For mentees and control apprentices, those that do not identify as a woman will be excluded.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Stress | 1 year period | Measures of feelings of stress among the female workers from the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) where higher scores indicate a worse outcome. Minimum value is 0 and maximum value is 40. |
| Job Satisfaction | 1 year period | Measures of job satisfaction from the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) where higher scores indicate higher job satisfaction. Minimum value is 1 and maximum value is 6. |
| Social Support | 1 year period | Measures of social support both in and out of work from the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Social Support Survey. Higher scores indicate greater feelings of social support. Minimum value of 1 and maximum value of 5. |
Countries
United States
Participant flow
Recruitment details
Recruitment Details Recruitment for round 1 of the study took place from March-May 2021. Recruitment for round 2 of the study took place from July-December 2023. All recruitment activity took place remotely via video conferencing software, email and phone, with union locals as the recruitment locations.
Pre-assignment details
Evolving impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the environmental conditions between the period of participant enrollment and the time participants were assigned to each arm. No enrolled participants were excluded from the study before assignment.
Participants by arm
| Arm | Count |
|---|---|
| Mentees This arm consists of apprentice-level, female-identifying construction workers who will receive active mentorship (the intervention) for two years from trained journey-level mentors.
Mentoring program: Apprentice-level female construction workers will be assigned to a mentor who has gone through a rigorous mentorship training. Participants will be asked to meet with a mentor at least 4 times/year in person to discuss the challenges of being a female in construction, learn coping mechanisms, and otherwise discuss the unique challenges of the job environment. | 51 |
| Control Apprentices This arm consists of apprentice-level, female-identifying construction workers who will not receive mentorship. | 39 |
| Total | 90 |
Withdrawals & dropouts
| Period | Reason | FG000 | FG001 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Study | Lost to Follow-up | 24 | 17 |
| Overall Study | Withdrawal by Subject | 3 | 0 |
Baseline characteristics
| Characteristic | Mentees | Control Apprentices | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age, Categorical <=18 years | 0 Participants | 0 Participants | 0 Participants |
| Age, Categorical >=65 years | 0 Participants | 0 Participants | 0 Participants |
| Age, Categorical Between 18 and 65 years | 51 Participants | 39 Participants | 90 Participants |
| Age, Continuous | 28 years | 27 years | 28 years |
| Job Satisfaction | 3.1 units on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.5 | 3.1 units on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.6 | 3.1 units on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.6 |
| Perceived Stress | 18.1 units on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 8.1 | 14.1 units on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 7.4 | 16.3 units on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 7.8 |
| Race/Ethnicity, Customized Black or African American | 5 Participants | 8 Participants | 13 Participants |
| Race/Ethnicity, Customized Hispanic, Latinx, or Spanish Origin | 6 Participants | 4 Participants | 10 Participants |
| Race/Ethnicity, Customized Other | 12 Participants | 1 Participants | 13 Participants |
| Race/Ethnicity, Customized White | 28 Participants | 26 Participants | 54 Participants |
| Region of Enrollment Canada | 2 Participants | 0 Participants | 2 Participants |
| Region of Enrollment United States | 49 Participants | 39 Participants | 88 Participants |
| Sex: Female, Male Female | 51 Participants | 39 Participants | 90 Participants |
| Sex: Female, Male Male | 0 Participants | 0 Participants | 0 Participants |
| Social Support | 4.4 units on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.7 | 4.4 units on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.6 | 4.4 units on a scale STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.7 |
Adverse events
| Event type | EG000 affected / at risk | EG001 affected / at risk |
|---|---|---|
| deaths Total, all-cause mortality | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 |
| other Total, other adverse events | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 |
| serious Total, serious adverse events | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 |
Outcome results
Primary
Job Satisfaction
Measures of job satisfaction from the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) where higher scores indicate higher job satisfaction. Minimum value is 1 and maximum value is 6.
Time frame: 1 year period
Population: participants who completed or partially competed the baseline survey, including questions pertaining to this measure
| Arm | Measure | Value (MEAN) | Dispersion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mentees | Job Satisfaction | 2.9 score on a scale | Standard Deviation 0.6 |
| Control Apprentices | Job Satisfaction | 3.0 score on a scale | Standard Deviation 0.4 |
Primary
Social Support
Measures of social support both in and out of work from the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Social Support Survey. Higher scores indicate greater feelings of social support. Minimum value of 1 and maximum value of 5.
Time frame: 1 year period
| Arm | Measure | Value (MEAN) | Dispersion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mentees | Social Support | 4.4 score on a scale | Standard Deviation 0.9 |
| Control Apprentices | Social Support | 4.3 score on a scale | Standard Deviation 0.8 |
Primary
Stress
Measures of feelings of stress among the female workers from the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) where higher scores indicate a worse outcome. Minimum value is 0 and maximum value is 40.
Time frame: 1 year period
Population: Mentees and control apprentices who completed all questions on the end-of-year survey pertaining to perceived stress
| Arm | Measure | Value (MEAN) | Dispersion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mentees | Stress | 17.6 score on a scale | Standard Deviation 6.5 |
| Control Apprentices | Stress | 13.1 score on a scale | Standard Deviation 4.5 |