Design and philosophical paradigm

This study employed a narrative design, which focuses on constructing meaning from human experiences through storytelling [19]. The approach aligned with our research objective to offer insight into individuals’ identities, values, and lived realities [20].

Our philosophical paradigm was interpretivist, meaning that we believed “reality is dependent on those interpreting it”, and meanings were generated “through transactions between researcher and participant, each bringing their prior experiences and understandings to bear on the topic of investigation” [21]. The research team comprised both university-based investigators with expertise in occupational health, psychology, and disability studies, and community partners from the electrical trades.

Participants recruitment

The study population included electrical apprentices, workers, and employers who self-identified as women, Indigenous peoples, racialized individuals, and/or persons with disabilities. Recruitment was conducted through purposive sampling in collaboration with the Ontario Electrical League, a provincial advocacy organization representing 38,000 non-unionized electrical workers. Eligible participants were initially contacted by the Ontario Electrical League staff via email and phone call to gauge their interest. With participants’ consent, the Ontario Electrical League shared contact information (participants’ email and/or phone number) with the research team. Response rates were not available because the Ontario Electrical League did not disclose the total number of participants contacted. Additional recruitment was carried out at the Ontario Electrical League’s chapter meetings across Ontario. The research team attended and presented the research at the meetings. Participants contacted the research team by email following the meetings. Written consent was obtained prior to data collection. Recruitment took place between November 15, 2024 and March 31, 2025. All procedures were approved by the University of Toronto Research Ethics Boards.

Data collection

First author (ZS) conducted one-on-one, semi-structured interviews with participants who provided informed consent. Each interview was audio-recorded and set to be within 30 minutes. In cases where the full interview guide (Appendix A) was not covered in the initial session, a second interview was conducted. Two shorter interviews allowed for greater rapport-building, improved data richness, and respected participants’ time, while enhancing reflexivity and trust [22]. The interview guide was structured into three thematic sections to align with the research questions. The first section focused on building rapport with participants, understanding their backgrounds, and discussing their perspectives on the current workplace culture through questions such as “Can you tell me about yourself?” and “How would you describe the general work culture within your organization?”. The second and third sections aimed to directly address the research questions on participants’ experiences and perspectives related to mental health and workplace integration, such as “have you experienced any mental health challenges associated with your work?”. Interviews were conducted online or by phone, based on participant preference and availability.

Data analysis

All interviews were transcribed and imported into NVivo 12 [23]. We started with a narrative thematic analysis to identify common ideas and threads across participants [24]. Following the methodological guideline [25], two researchers independently reviewed all transcripts and generated initial codes from each interview. These codes were then discussed between the coders until they reached agreement. This iterative coding process led to the developing of themes and sub-themes through collaborative reflection and questioning.

We used the thematic findings to develop creative non-fictional stories representing participants’ lived experiences [26]. Creative non-fiction is a qualitative analytical practice used to represent participants’ lived experiences and researchers’ interpretations through a story-telling form [24]. It has been accepted as a valid and trustworthy method in sociological and psychological research, supported by the literature that provides systematic methodological guidance [27]. This method has been used to examine the lived experiences of underrepresented individuals in diverse contexts, including disability research [28]. We first mapped themes and sub-themes onto narrative structure elements (story beginning, middle, and ending) to form story proposals. Participant quotes were embedded in the proposals to maintain a clear connection between source data and narrative form. Using a combination of participant’s quotes and the researcher’s narrative writing, stories were developed through employing the writing techniques recommended in the literature, such as establishing scenes, developing characters, and showcasing dialogues [29]. Scenario-based story plots were primarily constructed by the research team through creative writing to establish contextual coherence for each story. The research team reviewed the story proposals and drafts, provided feedback, and refined the stories.

We ensured the rigor of the analysis through several strategies aligned with qualitative research standards. First, our data collection and analysis methods were coherent with our narrative design and interpretivist paradigm [21]. Second, we followed the established guideline for narrative thematic analysis and recommendations for creative non-fictional writing. Third, the involvement of two independent coders in the narrative thematic analysis process allowed multiple perspectives and interpretations to be acknowledged via investigator triangulation [30]. Both coders are men, racial minorities, not living with disabilities, while they have differing levels of research expertise in mental health, occupational health, and disabilities studies. Fourth, the full research team developed and refined the stories, which acted as critical friends to ensure reflexivity [31]. The executive director of the Ontario Electrical League contributed to validating the stories as a community expert. Their input ensured the stories were credible and authentic, strengthening the trustworthiness of the findings [32].

Story 1: Asking for a ride: being a woman electrician

Context: Natalie is a young woman apprentice who just started the fourth year of their apprenticeship.

When Natalie steps onto the job site, it’s freezing. Natalie slings her toolbelt and gets to work. An hour in, Natalie feels the familiar pinch in her bladder. She looks around, knowing what she won’t find: no portable toilet, no site facilities of any kind. She mutters: “Being in the trades, a lot of the time you’re working in fields in the middle of nowhere. If the guys have to go pee, they just go in the middle of the field, whatever. But for a girl, it’s very, very difficult.”

The only option is the coffee shop five minutes down the road. Natalie is not covered under the company’s insurance to drive the work van, so she has to rely on other people to drive her. And asking for this help never sits right with her because it means admitting she’s different. And different, in the trades, so often means less than. “In this job, it’s mostly meant that the guys assume that I can’t do something because I’m a woman,” Natalie reflects, “If I go to lift something heavy, they’re like, ‘oh, no let me help you’, which is totally fine. It’s nice that they do that, but sometimes I feel like I don’t need their help to do some stuff.”

However, the discomfort is getting worse. Natalie swallows her pride and walks up to one of the guy coworkers and asks: “Hey, mind driving me to the coffee shop?”

The guy replies: “Sure.”

In the van, Natalie breaks the silence: “You know, I think women can be really hard on themselves whenever they start to think about wanting to be in the trade. When I first started, I know the guys were joking, but some of them said that I was a lesbian just because I was an electrician, which I’m not and they just assume that.”

Her coworker nods and responds: “I heard you. This job’s never been an easy one. There was one girl I went to school with, she must have been 24, skinny. She’s not going to be lifting heavy cable, but she is smart, doing all the calculations for voltage drop. I relied on her help to get through many things. She was truly intelligent, and I think she would be great in those crawl spaces, and I hope she does get a job. But I can imagine older electricians looking at her and saying, ‘oh she’s just a young girl, what can she know?’”

Natalie exhales and says: “You are absolutely right. At my old job honestly, I was very uncomfortable a lot of the time. The guys there got along great, but it was mostly awkward for me because you go to work and then they would hit on me all day. My old job, my foreman asked me to move in with him. I had to switch crews.”

Back on site, Natalie reflects on the conversation they had in the car: “I appreciate what he just did and said. Who you work for and who you work with makes a huge difference. I’ve been pretty lucky in the fact that if anybody makes a sexist comment, it’s usually one of my colleagues that’ll step forward and be like, ‘hey no, that’s not OK’, before I can even say or do anything.”

She picks up her tools again. “I really wish that this company would hire more women, because at lunch break, it’s boy talk. Sometimes it’d be nice to have women to hang out with. I find just generally being a woman, I’m not as close with them, like there’s a wall between us that will never be crossed.” Natalie continues the thoughts, “Some high schools have mechanic shops. If there was more of this, and there are more examples of people on television or in the celebrity world showing females in this type of trades, more women would be attracted and curious about it. If you don’t see those examples that visibly, then you never think of that as your option.”

Story 2: The lunch talk: Indigenous people and racialized individuals in the trade

Context: Barry is a racial minority and a new immigrant to Canada. Barry works for Mike, who is an Indigenous person and owns a contracting business.

The sun casts long shadows across the job site as the crew gathers around for lunch. Barry reaches for a sandwich and glances at his coworkers who are chatting easily in English. Laughter erupts at a joke, but Barry doesn’t get it. He just smiles anyway.

Mike, the owner of the company, notices Barry sitting a bit apart. He steps over and asks Barry: “How’s it going?”

Barry hesitates: “Good… I mean it just…” He pauses, searching for better words. “Sometimes I still have a hard time explaining things to other guys. I just take it easy. It makes it easier to just write it… or to draw it down… what they need to do, instead of explaining it.”

Mike smiles and responds: “The language, eh? That’s a big one.”

Barry stops chewing and says: “I also feel…outside.”

Mike sees the frustrations from Barry’s face. He leans closer and whispers to him: “I hear you. For me, it’s not the language, but being Indigenous, being a visible minority, the feeling of being on the outside never goes away. I’ve had one really negative experience with a very racist customer, and that made me feel pretty awful. He was pretty racist and an anti-Indigenous person. My boss, who knows I’m an Indigenous person, kind of deflected the guy and redirected his attention. I just kept doing my thing and tried to ignore the gentlemen. I don’t think he was trying to be malicious, but I think he was a very old school, racist kind of dude. And it definitely was a shaking moment.”

Barry nods and says: “Sorry to hear that.”

Mike speaks slowly: “Thanks. Before I started my own business, I would be chosen for this one thing with one of the journeymen, and other people will be doing other things. I always wondered ‘why don’t they want me doing things on that team?’ And I would start to spin my wheels a little bit on that. Then I realized that the jobs were equally as important. I’m just working with this person versus that person.”

The rest of the crew is picking back up. Mike talks to Barry: “We all really benefit when we see diversity in any way. Diversity makes everyone feel more welcome. It benefits the whole company, homeowner and everyone. And that extrapolates up for so many different skills and experiences.” Mike continues. “There’s been a lot of inclusiveness, not just in our trade, but for the other trades. Since now there’s a lot of immigrants coming into the country, I don’t know what religion they have, but people who wear turbans, some of the rules and the laws in the job site have been changed, because the hard hat does not fit over their head and their turban.”

Mike claps Barry gently on the shoulder and says: “I’m glad to have you here. I definitely try to make a point of hiring women and hiring people from underrepresented groups, because I’ve seen such value by being supported as one of those people in the trade.”

Barry looks over at Mike, a quiet smile forming.

Story 3: Luke’s notes: living and working with disability

Context: Luke is doing his second-year apprenticeship with a local contractor. He was diagnosed with a physical disability before becoming an electrical apprentice.

Bundles of wires lay across the job site. Luke takes a deep breath and pulls a notebook from his pocket. “Take list first”, he reminds himself, “Before I had all this [disability], my memory was on point. I’d be able to remember measurements. Now I have to write it down on a piece of paper or on my phone, which kind of takes a little bit more time for me.”

While the other apprentices are already running wire, Luke crouches beside the truck and carefully writes out his tasks. He tries to do it quickly but knows that his body works differently now. Luke mutters to himself: “Through the disability, my bones hurt consistently all the time. It doesn’t matter if I’m climbing a ladder or bending over to pick up a juice box or whatever. It’s the same amount of pain. I can be standing there and my body’s aching 24/7.”

Luke’s mind drifts back to when he was applying for this job, “When I went to all the interviews, I didn’t have [disability] on my resume, but it was something that I mentioned to them [employers] through that interview towards the end. In every job site I go on, whoever is in charge, I let them know because it’s a safety thing for myself, and it’s a safety thing for them, right? I don’t try to let my disability to get into the way of my work. But at the end of the day, it’s something that my employers got to accept.” However, disclosing the disability was not an easy decision at that time. Luke thinks, “To be honest, I was a little bit nervous that they [employers] would either look at me a different way or be like, ‘oh, we don’t want to have a guy that misses days.’ Would I have a label put on me? Would my resume be tossed off to the side just because of the [disability]?” His thoughts are interrupted as he wraps up his notes.

“Hey buddy, I need your help here!”, a coworker calls out.

“What’s up?”, Luke replies and heads over. He’s eager to support his coworkers – because he knows what it feels like to be supported. When he told his bosses about his disability, they’ve always made sure that there’s somebody on sites who knows CPR. Luke remembers one specific moment, “Last summer we were doing the fire alarm testing. I don’t feel comfortable with all the strobe lights because of the [disability]. I told the head electrician and asked if he could find something else for me to do while all this testing was going around. He asked me to stay outside and let me know when to come back in. I definitely feel supported, because I would have a seizure if I stayed in the building, hypothetically.” Thinking of that, Luke smiles. He feels ready for whatever the day brings.