Alcohol Use and Problem Drinking among Women Firefighters

Abstract

Objectives Given high levels of occupational stress and toxic exposures, firefighters have a relatively high prevalence of occupationally-related medical and mental health disorders compared to the general public. Previous research found high rates of heavy and binge drinking among male firefighters. This study is the first to examine alcohol use among women firefighters. Methods Data were collected as part of a national online survey of women, career firefighters. Results A total of 1,913 women firefighters completed questions regarding alcohol use. Nearly 40% reported binge drinking in the previous month and 4.3% reported driving while intoxicated. Among those who drank, 16.5% screened positive for problem drinking. Problem drinkers were more than 2.5 times as likely to have been diagnosed with depression or have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and were approximately 40% more likely to have been injured on the job in the previous year, when compared to other women firefighters. Those who screened positive for problem drinking also were significantly less likely to say that they would recommend a fire service career to other women. Conclusions As with male firefighters, heavy and problem drinking are prevalent among women firefighters and are associated with negative occupational outcomes.

The Prevalence and Health Impacts of Frequent Work Discrimination and Harassment among Women Firefighters in the US Fire Service

“…Recruitment strategies are more specifically outlined in previous publications [23, 24] but included recruitment through contacts with previous participants, emails from organizations (e.g., iWomen, International Association of Firefighters), listserves (e.g., www.firefighterclosecalls.com), and through social media postings. Secondary recruitment included requesting any women who completed the survey to share the solicitation with their women colleagues.…”

“…This study and its protocols were approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. Details about the survey protocol and consent can be found in Jahnke et al [23] and Haddock and colleagues [24]. This survey focused on women in the career fire service specifically rather than including volunteers as career firefighters are exposed to the greatest risk, are more active responding to calls, and spend more time in the culture of the firehouse [24].…”

“…( 3) Health Behaviors (Substance Use and Physical Activity). Problem drinking patterns and tobacco use were assessed using standard approaches that also have been successfully implemented firefighter substance use epidemiological studies [24, 45, 46]. Problem drinking behaviors were measured by the CAGE questionnaire [47–49].…”

Mental Health Correlates of Probable Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Probable Alcohol Use Disorder, and Their Co-Occurrence among Firefighters

“…Indeed, firefighters with PTSD symptoms may be at heightened risk for the development of AUD due to coping-motivated alcohol use (Bacharach et al, 2008;Zegel et al, 2019). Emerging work has established high rates of PTSD and AUD in the fire service (Arbona & Schwartz, 2016;Bing-Canar et al, 2019;Haddock et al, 2015Haddock et al, , 2017Tomaka et al, 2017), highlighting the need for effective treatments among firefighter populations.…”

Women Firefighters’ Health and Well-Being: An International Survey

“…However, despite a growing body of research for male health in fire services, currently there is limited work on the specific health needs of women (Jahnke et al, 2012;Sinden et al, 2013). Within the WFF population previous research has identified high alcohol intakes (Haddock, Poston, Jahnke, & Jitnarin, 2017), high rates of depression (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010), anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicide (Stanley, Hom, Spencer-Thomas, & Joiner, 2017), as well as pregnancy complications (Jahnke, Poston, Jitnarin, & Haddock, 2018). Most published women specific research originates from the USA and to our knowledge there is no documentation on women's perspectives of health and wellbeing needs, particularly surrounding gynaecological health.…”