Women in Substance Abuse Treatment
Results from the Alcohol and Drug Services Study (ADSS)
This report discusses the need for substance abuse treatment programming for women and summarizes evidence about the effectiveness of such programming.
The report compares characteristics of male and female clients discharged from substance abuse treatment and estimates the availability of substance abuse treatment programming targeting women’s needs.
Finally, the report provides new information about the relationship between gender, substance abuse treatment programming for women, and retention in treatment.
This chapter includes a brief history of how gender has been addressed or ignored in sentinel substance abuse treatment research studies.
The chapter examines current data about gender differences in substance abuse treatment utilization, substance use epidemiology, social context and etiology of substance use, barriers to receiving treatment, physiological consequences of substance use, and retention in substance abuse treatment.
