Intro. Both discrimination and harassment directly impact mental and physical health. Further, workplace discrimination degrades workplace culture and negatively impacts health behaviors, job-related outcomes, and family dynamics. Women represent a small proportion of the fire service and are often the targets of discrimination/harassment, yet little research documents the impact of such experiences. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between chronic work discrimination and/or harassment and women firefighters’ (FFs) physical and mental health, substance abuse, and job efficacy, stress, and satisfaction. Methods. Snowball sampling was used to solicit participation from women career FFs. Participants completed an online survey regarding physical and mental health, health behavior, job efficacy/stress/satisfaction, and family well-being. Logistic regression examined the impact of work discrimination-harassment severity on dichotomous variables. Results. 1,773 had complete data on their experiences with work-related discrimination and harassment. Women reported experiencing verbal (37.5%) and written (12.9%) harassment, hazing (16.9%), sexual advances (37.4%), and assaults (5.1%) in the fire service. FFs in the highest tertile of work discrimination-harassment severity reported over 40% more poor health days in the last 30 days (OR=1.42; 95%CI=1.33-1.51; p<0.001). Women who experienced moderate and severe discrimination/harassment had negative mental health outcomes including higher prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms. Those who experienced high rates of discrimination and/or harassment also were more likely to report issues with alcohol consumption. Conclusion. The impact of discrimination and harassment, related negative physical and mental outcomes, low levels of job satisfaction, and negative impact of these experiences on family/home stress likely take a significant toll on women in the fire service. Findings confirm and extend previous work suggesting there is a need to improve the mental and physical health of women FFs. Future work should examine the prospective relationship between discrimination/harassment and poor health outcomes and potential policies/practices to reduce these negative behaviors.

Problem drinking is a perennial concern in the US fire service. A large literature has documented the importance of addressing alcohol norms in intervention research. The purpose of this study was to explore alcohol norms in a national cohort of firefighters (FFs) to inform intervention development in this occupational group. Data were from a national online survey of career and volunteer FFs (N = 674). Participants were recruited through national fire service listservs and a database of FFs who had agreed to be contacted for research. When asked about “acceptable” levels of alcohol consumption, FFs on average suggested levels which exceeded public health guidelines. Further, approximately half of career and volunteer FFs believed that, at least under some circumstances, drinking until intoxicated was normative. When asked how long should elapse between a FFs last drink and reporting for duty, the average suggested lag was 11.2 hours (sd = 4.6). However, among male volunteer FFs who reported heavy drinking, the average was 6.68 hours (sd = 4.77). Given the high prevalence of heavy and binge drinking in the fire service, it is not surprising that the alcohol norms found in this study were consistent with a culture of drinking. Participants' reports of alcohol use among their peers were consistent with the actual prevalence of problem drinking. Thus, education and prevention efforts in this occupation should focus on changing norms about alcohol use, including linking heavy drinking to other health and safety issues they face.

This study investigated the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mental health comorbidities among career firefighters in the U.S. and examined occupational factors related to PTSD. A total of 624 male career firefighters completed questions regarding PTSD and mental health conditions. Nearly 7% met the criteria for being in the range of concern for PTSD, and among those, 87% screened positive for at least one other mental health condition. Those with PTSD also reported significantly higher occupational stress and duty-related incident stress, having a lower perception of self-efficacy to manage stress/trauma exposure and lower perceptions of support from their department and peers than those without PTSD.

Physical activity (PA) classes help college students add weekly PA, which can help improve health and maintain body weight. Traditional weight training (TWT) can improve strength and aerobic capacity. High-intensity functional training such as CrossFit^® (CF) provides time-efficient workouts with both muscle strengthening and aerobic exercises. Limited research has compared these classes for college students. We examined changes in muscular strength, power, and endurance as well as body composition. Participants were 85 healthy college students enrolled in TWT (n = 36, age 22.6 ± 4.1 years, 72.2% male) or CF (n = 49, age 21.8 ± 3.2 years, 55.1% male) classes meeting twice/wk for 8 weeks between October 2017 and May 2018. Baseline and posttest measurements included a vertical jump, grip strength, a 2 min push-up test, a 1 min squat test, height, weight, and a bioelectrical impedance analysis. Although no significant group × time interactions were found, there was a significant main effect of time for push-ups and squats (both p < 0.001). Participants enjoyed the classes and most planned to continue. Both classes improved muscular endurance although no significant differences were found between them. Activity classes provide college students with an option for increasing their weekly PA and help maintain body composition. Future research should examine the benefits from longer or more frequent classes.

Objective: To document weight changes in a population-based cohort of male career firefighters and evaluate the impact of health surveillance on subsequent participant behavior and body composition. Methods: Body mass index, waist circumference, and body fat percentage were assessed longitudinally in 311 male firefighters. Results: Firefighters who reported making no changes after the baseline assessment (42.1%) experienced a 0.64 ± 3.1 kg average weight gain, whereas firefighters who reported making one or more health behavior change (ie, changing their diet, increasing their physical activity, or both; 52.1%) lost an average of −1.3 kg. Conclusions: Regular health surveillance may motivate some firefighters to make health behavior changes. Although it is not currently the norm, fire departments should provide firefighters with annual health assessments including body composition and fitness measures, consistent with those recommended by the fire service's Wellness and Fitness Initiative.

We conducted a content analysis of the US military tobacco policies at the Department of Defense, each respective military service (Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps), and their Major Commands (MAJCOM). Ninety-seven policies were evaluated using the Military Tobacco Policy Rating Form (MTPRF). More than three quarters addressed the following domains: (1) deleterious health effects of tobacco use; (2) environmental tobacco smoke; (3) designation of smoking areas; (4) tobacco prevention/cessation programs; and (5) smokeless tobacco. Few policies (2.1 per cent) mentioned relevant Department of Defense and respective service tobacco use prevalence statistics. Smoking as non-normative or incompatible with military service, the impact of tobacco use on military readiness, and the tobacco industry were addressed infrequently (6.2 per cent, 33.0 per cent, and 8.2 per cent, respectively). Future military tobacco policies should address important omissions of critical information such as the current service tobacco use prevalence, effects on readiness, and smoking as non-normative.