Session: Increasing Accessibility and Effectiveness in Substance Abuse Treatment for Women (Society for Social Work and Research 21st Annual Conference - Ensure Healthy Development for all Youth)

Despite concerns nationally with women’s health, research evidence focused on gender differences in utilization and outcome in substance abuse treatment is in short supply. Research on gender differences in substance abuse treatment indicates that women overall have less access to services, and when they do enter treatment, they do so with more serious dependencies and with more health and social problems than do men.  Although significant research points to the impact and effectiveness of gender-sensitive substance abuse treatment, programs tailored to women’s needs are on the decline. Although the research on gender and substance abuse treatment indicates that both women and men benefit from substance abuse treatment, little is known about how to tailor services for women and men in specific subgroups, such as race/ethnic subgroups or groups of homeless individuals.  Several factors constrain research in this area. First, the paucity of datasets with adequately-sized female subsamples has been a barrier to the development of evidence-based substance abuse services.  Second, few studies have focused on gender differences, particularly among vulnerable subgroups in substance abuse treatment. As a result, we have little evidence relevant to (a) understanding prevalence among women and men in separate subsamples of vulnerable individuals, (b) tailoring services to the needs of specific subgroups, or (c) developing culturally competent practices to meet the specific needs of specific groups. This symposium will bring together analyses of substance use, service utilization and treatment outcome across four data sets:  (1) the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), a national survey conducted annually of approximately 70,000 individuals on the use of tobacco, alcohol, illicit drugs (including non-medical use of prescription drugs) and mental health in the U.S; (2) the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS), a cross-sectional epidemiological survey that examines mental health and substance abuse risk factors for Latinos and Asian Americans; (3) the Los Angeles County Participant Reporting System (LACPRS), a county dataset from all publicly funded substance abuse treatment programs in Los Angeles County; and (4) a community sample of women participating in a randomized clinical trial.  All datasets include measures of substance use, service provision/utilization and outcome that permit comparative analyses across vulnerable groups of women and men.  All papers in the symposium address the following question:  What are implications of the findings for developing strategies to increase accessibility and effectiveness in the provision of substance abuse treatment for women in specific vulnerable groups.