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

NCT04247880 | Completed Results

• 2 other identifiers: STUDY00009270U60OH009762-11
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 96
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 19

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.

Conditions

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

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• 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.

  1 year period

• 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.

  1 year period

• 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.

  1 year period

Study Arms (2)

Mentees

EXPERIMENTAL

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.

Behavioral: Mentoring program

Control Apprentices

NO INTERVENTION

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

Interventions

Mentoring program 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.

Mentees

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 21 Years - 65 Years
• Gender Eligibility Details: Mentors can be both male- and female-identifying. Mentees and control apprentices will be all female-identifying.
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• 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.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Washington: lead
• The Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR): collaborator
• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH/CDC): collaborator

Study Sites (19)

Phoenix Area Local 359

Phoenix, Arizona, 85034, United States

Location

Sheet Metal Workers Local 105

Glendora, California, 91740, United States

Location

Sheet Metal Workers Local 104

San Jose, California, 95131, United States

Location

Sheet Metal Workers Local 9

Denver, Colorado, 80211, United States

Location

Sheet Metal Workers Local 85

Atlanta, Georgia, 30315, United States

Location

Hawaii Sheet Metal Workers Local 293

Honolulu, Hawaii, 96817, United States

Location

Sheet Metal Workers Local 73

Hillside, Illinois, 60162, United States

Location

Sheet Metal Workers Local 20

Indianapolis, Indiana, 46205, United States

Location

Sheet Metal Workers Local 17

Dorchester, Massachusetts, 02124, United States

Location

Sheet Metal Workers Local 63

Springfield, Massachusetts, 01104, United States

Location

Sheet Metal Workers Local 10

Maplewood, Minnesota, 55109, United States

Location

Sheet Metal Workers Local 36

St Louis, Missouri, 63103, United States

Location

Sheet Metal Workers Local 49

Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87106, United States

Location

Sheet Metal Workers Local 28

New York, New York, 10013, United States

Location

Columbus Sheet Metal Workers Apprenticeship

Columbus, Ohio, 43219, United States

Location

Sheet Metal Workers Local 16

Portland, Oregon, 97230, United States

Location

Sheet Metal Workers Local 19

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19147, United States

Location

Sheet Metal Workers Local 67

San Antonio, Texas, 78216, United States

Location

Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 66

Everett, Washington, 98204, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Harassment, Non-Sexual; Sexual Harassment; Occupational Stress; Stress, Psychological

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Social Behavior; Behavior; Sexual Behavior; Occupational Diseases; Behavioral Symptoms

Limitations and Caveats

COVID-19 impacted the delivery and uptake of the intervention, as well as our ability to recruit and retain participants.

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Dr. Marissa Baker
• Organization: University of Washington

bakermg@uw.edu

206 616 4709

Study Officials

• Marissa G Baker, PhD

  University of Washington

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

• Lily M Monsey, BA

  University of Washington

  STUDY DIRECTOR

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: Yes

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 28, 2020
• First Posted: January 30, 2020
• Study Start: March 1, 2021
• Primary Completion: July 1, 2024
• Study Completion: December 31, 2024
• Last Updated: September 16, 2025
• Results First Posted: September 16, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-08

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (19)