Evaluating Drug and Alcohol Treatment in Norway in a Women’s Perspective, 1992

The purpose of “Evaluating Drug and Alcohol Treatment in Norway in a Women's Perspective, 1992” was to map women's conditions in institutions for substance abuse; gender distribution in clients and staff, treatment ideology, knowledge and awareness of female client's problems and needs, and measures directed particularly at women. The background for this was that the substance abuse treatment historically was developed for male clients, and to a large degree further developed without considering that female clients might have special problems and needs. The female share among clients were at the point of the study, at 30 % and increasing, and at that point in research on women it was documented that female substance abusers often had special traits in their prehistories, their course of abuse, problems related to the abuse (particularly related to shame, sexuality, child care, power in close relations), and sometimes aims and methods for a good treatment. The main question in the study was how the institutions for substance abuse handled these challenges. These were the main findings in the study: Institutions for substance abuse appeared to be quite complex, and varied strongly in a lot of ways that were relevant for a good treatment of female clients. Large parts of the treatment system had inadequate knowledge about women's special needs, poor routines for follow ups, cooperation and further referrals, and they had to a very limited degree incorporated basic traits of already existing knowledge about female substance abusers. Measures made at polyclinics continuously had a higher share of women among their clients, and conditions that looked after many of the special needs of women (separating male clients from female clients, long-lasting relations to their therapist, flexibility regarding changing life situations and commitments), but many clients would also have needed the offer of around-the-clock treatment. Institutions that offered such treatment with a mixed clientele of men and women, risked locking and amplifying the women's problem. Measures that were conscious of female clientele had continuous, open, self-reflecting and client centered models of treatment.