Women face additional barriers accessing drug treatment – study

A STUDY that examined the experiences of women who attend drug and alcohol services in Tallaght and Ballyfermot has found that women face additional barriers to accessing treatment – and there is a need for more gender-sensitive services.

The Supporting Women to Access Appropriate Treatment (SWAAT) study, which was commissioned by the drug and alcohol task forces in Tallaght and Ballyfermot, was carried out by Professor Jo-Hanna Ivers, Dr Gillian Paul, and Francesca Giulini for Trinity College Dublin.

A total of 22 women, between the ages of 21 and 61, were interviewed for the study. The interviewees identified age, stigma, a lack of childcare and a lack of information regarding services as barriers to accessing and attending drug treatment programmes.

Dr Gillian Paul from DCU’s School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health told The Echo: “We solely went to interview women because we know women do face barriers to accessing drug treatment and we wanted to explore it.

“Women in general are underrepresented. They have maternal responsibility, they face stigma – women tend to experience more stigma than men [when accessing drug treatment].

“On top of that, you have specific groups of women who have more barriers in terms of domestic violence, sex work and homelessness.

“Another one that came up in the study was a lack of information about services, about knowing what’s in your area and what’s available for you.”

Among the findings in the study included the view by some of the participants that there is a need for more gender-sensitive services for women who are accessing drug treatment services.

Some women are afraid that their children may be taken away from them if they access these services.

One of the respondents to a survey for the study stated there is a “need for services to really understand the level of fear for mothers around the possible or imagined involvement of social services and the amount of calculation that women can make on these issues before presenting their needs.”

Another one of the participants suggested the option of being able to choose a gender-specific worker to help them with their treatment as they would prefer to work with other women.

Dr Paul added: “There is a need for gender-sensitive services that are tailored towards women’s needs.

“At times, the women said they would’ve liked to be going to services that are female-only at some point during their journey [to recovery].

“We know from international literature that women do better in gender-sensitive services, that it would be seen as a good idea, basically.”

There is also a need for women struggling with drug and alcohol misuse to be signposted to services earlier so they can seek treatment before their issues spiral.

“What we want is for people to access treatment as soon as possible,” said Dr Paul.

“Some women in the study said they hit rock bottom before they started attending treatment, so the earlier they can access treatment, the better.”

For further details on the Ballyfermot Drug and Alcohol Task Force, visit www.ballyfermotldatf.ie.

To find out more about the Tallaght Drug and Alcohol Task Force, visit www.tallaghtdatf.ie