Firefighting and mental health: Experiences of repeated exposure to trauma

Jahnke, Sara A.; Poston, Walker S. Carlos; Haddock, C. Keith; Murphy, Beth L.

doi:10.3233/wor-162255

Cited by 103 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…This result may be a conservative estimate because the CAGE questionnaire may be less sensitive in women compared to men (Dhalla & Kopec, 2007). Problem drinking was significantly associated with common mental health issues in the Fire Service, such as depression, anxiety, and symptoms of PTSD (Carey et al, 2011; Fullerton, Ursano, & Wang, 2004; Guo et al, 2006; Jahnke et al, 2014; Jahnke et al, 2016). A large national formative study on alcohol use among firefighters found a strong perception that occupational stress and repeated exposure to trauma lead to excessive alcohol use as a method of coping.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is critical to determine whether women firefighters also are at risk for unhealthy levels of alcohol consumption due to its deleterious social and health effects (Bates, Bowden, & Barry, 2002; Booth & Feng, 2002; Bouchery, Harwood, Sacks, Simon, & Brewer, 2011; Breslow, Guenther, Juan, & Graubard, 2010; Caetano, 1987; Caetano & Cunradi, 2002; Caetano, Schafer, Fals-Stewart, O'Farrell, & Miller, 2003; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015; Chartier & Caetano, 2012; Cunradi, Caetano, Clark, & Schafer, 1999; Ehlers, Gilder, Criado, & Caetano, 2010; Galvan & Caetano, 2003; Greenfield, 1998; Jahnke et al, 2014; Kaplan et al, 2014; Klingemann, 2001) and association with occupationally-related risk factors, such as exposure to trauma (Jahnke, Poston, Haddock, & Murphy, 2016). This study fills the gap in the literature on women firefighters and alcohol consumption by presenting data from the first national study of the health of women in the fire service.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Alcohol Use and Problem Drinking among Women Firefighters

Haddock

Poston

Jahnke

et al. 2017

Women's Health Issues

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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.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Alcohol Use and Problem Drinking among Women Firefighters

Haddock

Poston

Jahnke

et al. 2017

Women's Health Issues

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“…All these stress-related symptoms were directly or indirectly influenced by personality traits, working conditions and maladaptive coping strategies [20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. Strictly speaking, the perpetuation of trauma exceeds exposure to potentially traumatic events, as it is also influenced by personal and occupational characteristics, organizational structure, interpersonal relationships and mental and physical health conditions [12,14,27,28].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Through this analysis, we identified the main risk and protective factors for the development of PTSD and other stress-related diseases in firefighters as being the perception of stress, social and organizational support, training and experience, usually associated with being a volunteer or professional firefighter, and the choice of coping strategies. These factors influence each other, offering evidence that stress-related diseases are the result of a set of failures that may occur before, during and after potentially traumatic events [12,14,16,27,[29][30][31][32].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The abovementioned factors-personality traits, subjective perception, social and organizational support, and occupational conditions-had been mentioned as directly influencing the choice of emotions and actions to deal with a potentially traumatic event [20,27,47,48]. Studies have indicated that firefighters constitute a group with a high prevalence of alcohol abuse, of around 30%, suggesting that substance abuse is a maladaptive coping strategy.…”

Section: Copingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Relational Model for Stress: A Systematic Review of the Risk and Protective Factors for Stress-Related Diseases in Firefighters

Becker

Paixão

Quartilho

2020

Psych

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Firefighters are considered a high-risk group for the development of PTSD and other stress-related diseases. More than the exposure to potentially traumatic events, personal and occupational characteristics have been pointed out as interfering in the perception of stress, which may lead to the emergence of mental and physical symptoms. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between the main factors that contribute to stress-related diseases in firefighters. A systematic review was conducted in order to identify original articles focusing on risk and protective factors for stress in this population. Personality traits, training, experience in extreme situations and social and organizational support influence the perception of stress and, consequently, the choice of coping strategies, which may protect against or potentiate the stress reactions. The findings of this study allow us to draw a relational model that represents the dynamics among the factors related to stress in firefighters. The development of PTSD and other stress-related diseases depends on a host of pre-trauma and post-trauma factors and, although training is an important protective factor, being prepared to face extreme situations does not mean being immune to traumatic stress.

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PTSD symptoms, depressive symptoms, and subjective cognitive concerns in WTC‐exposed and non‐WTC‐exposed firefighters

Mueller

Singh

Webber

et al. 2021

American J Industrial Med

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Background: Firefighting has been associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health conditions. We previously found that among Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) responders to the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster, higher-intensity WTC-exposure predicted PTSD symptoms, depressive symptoms, and subjective cognitive concerns. The present study aims to compare these symptoms in the FDNY WTC-exposed cohort versus a comparison cohort of non-FDNY, non-WTC-exposed firefighters. Methods:The study population included WTC-exposed male firefighters from FDNY (N = 8466) and non-WTC-exposed male firefighters from Chicago (N = 1195), Philadelphia (N = 770), and San Francisco (N = 650) fire departments who were employed on 9/11/2001 and completed a health questionnaire between 3/1/2018 and 12/31/2020. Current PTSD symptoms, depressive symptoms, and subjective cognitive concerns were assessed via validated screening instruments. Multivariable linear regression analyses stratified by fire department estimated the impact of covariates on each outcome.Results: Adjusted mean PTSD symptom scores ranged from 23.5 ± 0.6 in Chicago firefighters to 25.8 ± 0.2 in FDNY, and adjusted mean depressive symptom scores ranged from 7.3 ± 0.5 in Chicago to 9.4 ± 0.6 in Philadelphia. WTC-exposure was associated with fewer subjective cognitive concerns (β = −0.69 ± 0.05, p < .001) after controlling for covariates. Across cohorts, older age was associated with more cognitive concerns, but fewer PTSD and depressive symptoms.Conclusions: WTC-exposed firefighters had fewer cognitive concerns compared with non-WTC-exposed firefighters. We were unable to estimate associations between WTC exposure and PTSD symptoms or depressive symptoms due to variability between non-WTC-exposed cohorts. Longitudinal follow-up is needed to

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Firefighting and mental health: Experiences of repeated exposure to trauma

Cited by 103 publications

References 27 publications

Alcohol Use and Problem Drinking among Women Firefighters

Alcohol Use and Problem Drinking among Women Firefighters

A Relational Model for Stress: A Systematic Review of the Risk and Protective Factors for Stress-Related Diseases in Firefighters

PTSD symptoms, depressive symptoms, and subjective cognitive concerns in WTC‐exposed and non‐WTC‐exposed firefighters

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