VIDEO: Technology may bridge barriers to substance use disorder treatment for women

SAN FRANCISCO — Access to technology can bridge gaps for women with substance use disorders with issues such as care for young children, co-occurring disorders and unrelated trauma, Dawn Sugarman, PhD, said in this Healio video.

“We know that the prevalence of substance use disorders is higher in men than women,” Sugarman, a research psychologist in the alcohol, drugs and addiction clinical and health services research program at McLean Hospital, said in a presentation at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting. “However, what we’re seeing both in the U.S. and internationally, is that gender gap has been narrowing over the years.”

Women are more vulnerable to the effects of substance use, Sugarman noted, and though they log fewer years of use compared to men when they enter treatment, women tend to have more medical, psychiatric and social problems than the opposite gender.

Here, she reasoned, technologic engagement may increase access to evidence-based treatments by increasing reach, overcome geographic barriers and allow for anonymous engagement for women who may encounter stigma for their particular substance use issue.