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PURPOSE: Firefighters are exposed to high physical and psychological occupational factors while providing an essential service to our communities. Female firefighters represent a minority group in this male dominated occupation. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively determine the impact of a male dominated, physically demanding occupation on women's work health and job satisfaction through the experiences of female firefighters.

METHODS: A phenomenological approach was used to collect data through semi-structured, recorded interviews with female firefighters. The recorded interviews were transcribed into text and inductive thematic analysis was used to qualitatively analyze the transcripts.

RESULTS: Review and analysis of the participant responses identified seven themes: physical demands/difficulties, gender related physiological differences, compensatory strategies, equipment mal …