Effective interventions for drug using women offenders: A narrative literature review

ABSTRACT

A detailed understanding of the effectiveness of interventions designed to meet drug using women offenders’ (DUWOs) complex needs is essential to maximize success. This article reports on a narrative literature review of evaluations of interventions designed to assist DUWOs in their recovery from drug use and in their desistance from offending. It aims to identify gaps in that research and point to possible directions for future studies. It shows that successful interventions are likely to be intensive, of significant duration, multidimensional, and interdisciplinary. Evaluations must similarly be designed to take into account all individual and structural factors. Qualitative longitudinal research which incorporates DUWOs’ opinions on their needs might best inform the development of interventions tailored to meeting those needs. Evaluation design should acknowledge the importance of progress as well as outcomes and be designed to follow DUWOs through their whole sentence rather than focusing on a single intervention/point in time without the context of what came before and what might or should happen in the future.

KEYWORDS:

• Addiction
• drug use
• offending
• substance use
• women

Notes

^1. It should be noted that the only systematic review of this population was able to include only nine studies (Perry et al., 2014)

^2. Psychosocial interventions vary considerably in terms of intensity and duration but normally center on drug education and cognitive-behavioral group work focused on criminal lifestyles and pro-social skills building to prevent relapse.

^3. Therapeutic communities involve participation in an intensive treatment program where offenders are housed separately from the general prison population in a pro-social community.

^4. Female Offender Treatment and Employment which comprised 6–15 months residential drug treatment, case management, vocational services, and parenting-related services.