title: A comparison of women seeking drug and alcohol treatment in a specialist women's and two traditional mixed-sex treatment services.
abstract: The paucity of research on the treatment needs of women with substance abuse problems has been a serious impediment to the development of empirically validated treatment programmes. Women continue to be seriously under-represented as research subjects and clients of treatment services. This study compares the characteristics of 80 women attending a specialist women's treatment service with those of eighty women attending two traditional mixed-sex treatment agencies. Women attending a gender-sensitive service were significantly more likely to have dependent children, to be lesbian, to have a maternal history for drug or alcohol problems and to have suffered sexual abuse in childhood. These results suggest that gender-sensitive treatment services may be recruiting women who might not otherwise have sought treatment for their substance dependence problems.
authors.affiliation: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Australia.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Copeland
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hall
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010553:Personality Development; D017406:Sexual Harassment / Q000517:prevention & control; D012931:Social Environment; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers