Characteristics of women-only and mixed-gender drug abuse treatment programs

Specialized substance abuse treatment programs have been developed for wome n within the past two decades, This article presents the results of a secon dary analysis of a regional database of drug abuse treatment programs that compared the characteristics of women-only (WO) and mixed-gender (MG) progr ams across three treatment modalities. In general, WO programs differed fro m MG programs in their policies regarding fees, sources of payment, special populations sewed, services offered, and treatment capacity, process, and duration. The differences in program characteristics reflect broader societ al gender differences, including women's generally lower economic status an d primary responsibility for child-rearing. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.