| Employee alcohol use is an important public health problem that has not been adequately studied. This may be due to stigma, privacy, and ethical issues associated with uncovering problematic drinking behavior in the workplace. The present study sought to estimate the current prevalence of self-reported alcohol use in 59 inpatient psychiatric clinicians. Results indicated that 66.1% report current alcohol use, 30.5% report binge drinking episodes, 11.9% report harmful or hazardous alcohol use, and 10.2% report a history of an alcohol problem. In adjusted logistic regression models, non-white ethnicity suggested harmful or hazardous alcohol use (OR = 5.57, 95% CI [0.84, 36.96], p = 0.08), while female gender trended towards being protective against harmful or hazardous alcohol use (OR = 0.16, 95% CI [0.03, 1.07], p = 0.06). A current prevalence estimate for alcohol use in inpatient psychiatric clinicians is a step towards understanding the scope of the problem in this population. Increased understanding of the factors associated with harmful or hazardous alcohol use in this population may inform future occupational health promotion interventions. |
