Grant: Project Grant

A sex and gender-based analysis (SGBA+) approach will be adopted since biological sex and socially constructed gender can affect stress responses, mental health, and help outreach. Women represent 11% of firefighters in Canada[5] and face higher rates of discrimination, harassment and hostility at work[37]. Racialized women experience even greater challenges[38] . Fire services are 'gendered' workplaces where a masculinity contest culture prioritizes strength and stamina over seeking support[8,22]. This study will examine how participant characteristics and organizational culture shape implementation and impact of app-based peer support. To address sex and gender differences, recruitment materials will reflect diversity to encourage broad participation. The app will offer connections to peer supporters of varying ages, genders, and ethnicities, with outreach trends tracked over time. Onboarding questions in the app include self-identification of gender to enable exploration of differences in app use. Gender will be considered as a potential mediator in both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Regression models will include gender as a covariate, and, where possible, we will conduct disaggregated modeling to assess differences. Given the smaller proportion of women firefighters, the power to detect sex or gender differences may be limited, however, exploratory analysis will inform future research. Qualitative interviews and focus groups will explore whether sex and gender are viewed as factors affecting uptake and impact of PeerOnCall. Knowledge translation (including organizational reports and presentations/publications) will include findings related to the sex and gender-based analysis.