Abstract This year marks 100 years since the inception of the Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps. The centenary provides an opportune time to reflect upon the nature of military nursing in New Zealand today. The past century has seen significant changes in the way in which nursing services are configured as well as to whom care… Read more »
Abstract
Background: Alcohol consumption in defence populations exceeds those of civilians across all age groups with stress associated with operational deployments thought to be a contributing factor. Civilian nurses drinking patterns mirror those of the general population, however alcohol consumption in military nurses as a discrete group has yet to be studied.
Purpose: This investigation aimed to examine alcohol consumption in a cohort of military nurses.
Material and methods: A cross-sectional study of a sample of 44 defence nurses from the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand extracted from a large electronic longitudinal survey.
Results: Over 20% of respondents consumed more than the recommended daily limit for their gender with over 24% of females exceeding safe daily consumption rates. Fifteen per cent drank more than their recommended weekly limit. Defence nurses in their fifties and sixties drank every day more often and consumed more drinks over a week than younger nurses.
Conclusion: Many respondents drank more than is recommended with older nurses engaged in higher alcohol consumption. Older nurses have been exposed to military drinking cultures for longer and are more likely to have deployed and experienced the stressors associated with this. Loss or impairment of individuals in this select group has the potential to impact disproportionately upon health capability. The study results highlight the need for further research with this population given the small sample size.
Key words: military, defence, nurses, alcohol, drinking
