Sleep problems, depression, substance use, social bonding, and quality of life in professional firefighters

Abstract

Objective: Little attention has been given to factors contributing to firefighters' psychosomatic well-being. The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine such contributing factors in a sample of professional firefighters.

Methods: Measures assessing sleep, depression, substance use, social bonding, and quality of life were examined in 112 firefighters.

Results: Overall, many firefighters reported sleep deprivation (59%), binge drinking behavior (58%), poor mental well-being (21%), current nicotine use (20%), hazardous drinking behavior (14%), depression (11%), poor physical well-being (8%), caffeine overuse (5%), or poor social bonding (4%).

Conclusions: Small-to-medium correlations were identified between sleep deprivation, depression, physical/mental well-being, and drinking behaviors. High-risk behaviors that impact psychosomatic well-being are prevalent in professional firefighters, which require environmental and individual-based health promotion interventions. The inter-correlation relationships between such behaviors, therefore, need to be explored in further details.

Figure 1. Prevalence of Psychosocial Characteristics of Professional Firefighters

Sleep deprivation and binge drinking are the most prevalent followed by nicotine use and poor mental well-being. Other high-risk health behaviors were less prevalent.