Women Helping Women: The Evaluation of an All Female Methadone Maintenance Program in Detroit

Abstract

In recent years, there has been increased concern about the female addict. This concern has been fed by a limited amount of research about the female addict which overwhelmingly indicates women do not fare as well as men in the treatment process. A number of factors have been proposed to account for the poor prognosis for women in treatment. Among the factors cited most frequently are those which suggest that women are less likely to be employed (Eldred and Washington, 1975; Ryan, 1976), less likely to be living with their families (Eldred and Washington, 1975; Maglin, 1974), and more likely to be discouraged from pursuing treatment as a result of a steady income from prostitution (Maglin, 1974; Suffet and Brotman, 1976), or as a result of child care responsibilities (Eldred and Washington, 1975). Clearly, most of these factors place the major responsibilities for failure in treatment upon the woman client--her particular set of personal characteristics or life events.