The Use of Mentoring to Promote Well-being for Female SMART Members

NCT ID: NCT04247880

Last Updated: 2025-09-16

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 96 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2021-03-01
• Study Completion Date: 2024-12-31

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.

Conditions

Harassment, Non-Sexual; Harassment, Sexual; Bullying, Workplace; Mental Stress; Work-Related Condition; Work-related Injury; Work Related Stress

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: OTHER
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

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.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Mentoring program

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

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.

Control Apprentices

This arm consists of apprentice-level, female-identifying construction workers who will not receive mentorship.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

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.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 21 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 65 Years
• Eligible Sex: FEMALE
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

The Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR)

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH/CDC)

FED

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Washington

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Marissa Baker

Assistant Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Marissa G Baker, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Washington

Lily M Monsey, BA

Role: STUDY_DIRECTOR

University of Washington

Locations

Phoenix Area Local 359

Phoenix, Arizona, United States

Sheet Metal Workers Local 105

Glendora, California, United States

Sheet Metal Workers Local 104

San Jose, California, United States

Sheet Metal Workers Local 9

Denver, Colorado, United States

Sheet Metal Workers Local 85

Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Hawaii Sheet Metal Workers Local 293

Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

Sheet Metal Workers Local 73

Hillside, Illinois, United States

Sheet Metal Workers Local 20

Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

Sheet Metal Workers Local 17

Dorchester, Massachusetts, United States

Sheet Metal Workers Local 63

Springfield, Massachusetts, United States

Sheet Metal Workers Local 10

Maplewood, Minnesota, United States

Sheet Metal Workers Local 36

St Louis, Missouri, United States

Sheet Metal Workers Local 49

Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

Sheet Metal Workers Local 28

New York, New York, United States

Columbus Sheet Metal Workers Apprenticeship

Columbus, Ohio, United States

Sheet Metal Workers Local 16

Portland, Oregon, United States

Sheet Metal Workers Local 19

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Sheet Metal Workers Local 67

San Antonio, Texas, United States

Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 66

Everett, Washington, United States

Countries

United States

Provided Documents

Document Type: Study Protocol, Statistical Analysis Plan, and Informed Consent Form

View Document

Other Identifiers

U60OH009762-11

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

STUDY00009270

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id