Abstract

Women are among the fastest growing populations of those with substance use disorders in the United States. Women face different social barriers than men in their access to treatment and recovery from these disorders. Differentially experienced barriers include greater child caregiving responsibilities, social sigma regarding motherhood and substance use, romantic partners who also use substances, experiences of violence and trauma, and, relatedly, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. These barriers have been studied primarily by employing between-group approaches (e.g. comparing men and women) or between-persons approaches (e.g. cross-sectionally assessing the relationship between person-level PTSD symptoms and relapse). However, there are limited studies on women’s gender-specific experiences in recovery with the aim of elucidating within-person effects. Employing within-person designs, such as daily diary or ecological momentary assessments, has many advantages. These advantages include reducing retrospective bias, assessing temporality of processes that occur on a short time scale, and analyzing processes that may occur when individuals deviate from their personally normative experiences. Studying women’s experiences in recovery “as they are lived” will enable the development of interventions that are fine-tuned to the specific needs of each woman, and ultimately may help to reduce the suffering of women with substance use disorders.

摘要

在美国，女性是患有物质使用障碍的人群中增长最快的人群之一。在获得这些疾病的治疗和康复方面，女性面临着与男性不同的社会障碍。不同经历的障碍包括更大的照顾孩子的责任、关于母亲身份和物质使用的社会偏见、也使用物质的浪漫伴侣、暴力和创伤经历，以及相关的创伤后应激障碍症状。这些障碍主要是通过采用组间方法（例如比较男性和女性）或人与人之间的方法（例如横断面评估个人层面的 PTSD 症状与复发之间的关系）来研究的。然而，以阐明个人影响为目的，对女性在康复过程中的特定性别经历的研究有限。采用个人内部设计，例如每日日记或生态瞬时评估，具有许多优势。这些优势包括减少回顾性偏差、评估在短时间范围内发生的过程的暂时性，以及分析当个人偏离其个人规范经验时可能发生的过程。研究妇女在“生活中”的康复经历，将有助于制定针对每位妇女的具体需求进行微调的干预措施，并最终可能有助于减少患有物质使用障碍的妇女的痛苦。这些优势包括减少回顾性偏差、评估在短时间范围内发生的过程的暂时性，以及分析当个人偏离其个人规范经验时可能发生的过程。研究妇女在“生活中”的康复经历，将有助于制定针对每位妇女的具体需求进行微调的干预措施，并最终可能有助于减少患有物质使用障碍的妇女的痛苦。这些优势包括减少回顾性偏差、评估在短时间范围内发生的过程的暂时性，以及分析当个人偏离其个人规范经验时可能发生的过程。研究妇女在“生活中”的康复经历，将有助于制定针对每位妇女的具体需求进行微调的干预措施，并最终可能有助于减少患有物质使用障碍的妇女的痛苦。