0313 Is Healthy Sleep Possible for Professional Firefighters? A Comparison of “On-Duty” and “Off-Duty” Sleep Quantity and Quality

Abstract

Introduction Healthy sleep is vital for firefighter safety, health, wellness, and for public well-being. However, professional firefighters experience disturbed sleep at disproportionately high rates. The current study investigated whether firefighters can obtain healthy sleep by identifying (1) differences in sleep while “on-duty” and “off-duty” and (2) risk factors for poor sleep. Methods Professional firefighters in Richmond, Virginia’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services (N=268), reported their sleep using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) both on- and off-duty. Good and poor sleepers were identified using the PSQI global score cutoff of 5. Demographic and STOP-BANG questionnaires were also completed. Results Using a repeated measures MANOVA, on-duty sleep was significantly worse compared to off-duty sleep across PSQI component and global scores F(7, 253)=45.24 p<.001, η²=.56. On-duty, 76.1% of firefighters were classified as poor sleepers compared to 42.9% off-duty. 34.7% were reclassified as good sleepers or stayed good sleepers (22.4%) when off-duty. A sizeable minority experienced consistently poor sleep while on- and off-duty (41.4%), and a small number reported worse sleep when off-duty (1.5%). More night calls and poorer self-rated mental health predicted worse on-duty sleep (p<.001) and poorer self-rated mental health predicted worse off-duty sleep (p<.001). Conclusion Healthy sleep is possible for professional firefighters. Almost a quarter of the sample was classified as “good sleepers” on-duty and over half were classified as “good sleepers” off-duty. Nonetheless, sleep on-duty was significantly worse overall, with over a third of the sample experiencing consistently poor sleep. When working a 24-hour variable shift schedule, it appears that poor sleep may “carryover” from on-duty to off-duty. Poorer self-rated mental health and more night calls were identified as risk factors. Further research is needed to probe risk and protective factors within this population. Support N/A

Exploring Clinical Trials to Manage Firefighters’ Sleep Quality: A PRISMA Compliant Systematic Review

“…The various validated questionnaires, applied to 196 participants, revealed that 6.9% of the firefighters had poor sleep quality, 27.7% showed excessive daytime sleepiness, 18.8% reported moderate to severe symptoms of insomnia, and 1.6% had moderate to high risk of obstructive sleep apnea. These results confirm the overall literature [67][68][69][70][71] showing that poor sleep quality and sleep disturbances are present in the firefighting work class. The Firesleep program was sufficient at establishing the association between certain risk factors and quality of sleep.…”

Occupational Stress and Burnout in the Fire Service: Examining the Complex Role and Impact of Sleep Health

“…Despite this, future studies should utilize longitudinal designs to confirm the present findings. Secondly, the items we utilized for our assessment of sleep health—although in line with common procedures (Dautovich et al, 2020; Savall et al, 2021)—did not capture the full spectrum previously discussed. That is, they did not account for distinctions between off duty and on duty sleep nor did they capture call volume or severity.…”