Providing services for women with difficulties with alcohol or other drugs: the current U.K. situation as seen by women practitioners researchers and policy makers in the field.
This exploratory paper reports on the current U.K. situation of service provision as seen by women practitioners, researchers and policy makers working in the area. Most agencies represented offered particular facilities for women: women-only groups, women workers and women-focussed research. Voluntary agencies were more likely to make provision than statutory agencies. The lack of childcare facilities and public stigmatization of women with addiction problems were commonly encountered problems. The study emphasised the need to develop a more adequate theoretical understanding of the area and for more specific literature on the problem to be more widely available.