Objective: The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effect of an online educational module in increasing awareness of depression, substance use disorder, and sleep deprivation among firefighters in Monroe County, New York.
Method: Firefighters were recruited via work e-mail and the snowball technique. A quantitative preintervention and postintervention study was used. Participants completed four surveys before and after completing educational online modules.
Results: There was a 5.11% increase in overall knowledge about sleep deprivation, depression, and substance (alcohol) use and a small decrease in the group mean for the depression and sleep deprivation scores after completion of the educational modules.
Conclusion: Increasing content knowledge had a positive effect to participants' self-awareness during the project. Incorporating educational modules into annual firefighting training could provide opportunities to improve sleep deprivation, depression, and substance use.
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