Increasing access and providing social services to improve drug abuse treatment for women with children

Aims. To assess the impact of a substance abuse treatment program for women with children designed to increase access to treatment through transportation, outreach and child-care services. Also, to assess the impact of using access services on the use of other services and on treatment effectiveness. Design. A quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group design was used with path analysis to examine the impact of participation in an enhanced services program that provided transportation, outreach and child-care services on the use of other social services and on the use of alcohol and illicit drugs. Setting. Treatment clients were interviewed in- person at enhanced treatment programs and regular substance abuse programs. Participants. Study participants included a randomly selected sample of women with children who were clients of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Participants were enrolled in enhanced or regular substance abuse treatment programs. Measurements. Study participants completed in-person interviews about their characteristics, services use and past and current substance use. Findings. Participation in the enhanced program was negatively related to substance use. Further, use of access services was related to use of social services which in turn, was negatively related to substance use. Conclusion. The study indicates that services that enhance access to treatment and respond to the range of social service needs of women are important for effective substance abuse treatment for women with children.