Moving the Latina Substance Abuser Toward Treatment

Abstract

The Latina substance abusermay find her journey to treatment filled with potholes and blind alleys. This paper describes how gender and culture shape her experiences. We analyzed data from six focus groups and interviews with 37 women in a therapeutic community, focusing on the process through which they sought assistance. Themes that emerged from our qualitative analysis suggest both gender and culture shaped our Latina substance abusers' experiences in ways that isolated them and made it harder for them to recognize their drug abuse as problematic. Gender and culture created structural barriers which limited their awareness of available treatment and of treatment being a viable option. Finally, both culture and gender created structural barriers to negotiating the logistics of entering treatment. We also offer some modest suggestions for informal and formal referral sources which might facilitate this process.

Key Words:

• Latina women
• substance abuse
• treatment