Studies of homeless alcoholic women remain rare. Women on Skid Row in New York City were sought out at the Women's Shelter for a study of homeless women alcoholics. The findings in this study of 31 homeless alcoholic women tend to confirm an earlier study by Garrett and Bahr in most respects. A major difference relates to the population's lack of homogeneity. A life-long pattern of marginality does not exist for most of the women. All judged to be alcoholic, some lived with their families, husbands, or a male partner prior to coming to the shelter. Almost a third lived alone. Sometimes the death of someone close or other crisis precipitated homelessness. In many instances there was no apparent crisis. For a substantial group of these women there did seem to be a long-standing pattern of instability and transient living in the two years preceding their move to the shelter. Public resources invested in shelter care are much needed either for individuals whose limited resources run out or where a crisis results in the loss of safe, adequate shelter.

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has presented the addiction services with an unprecedented set of challenges. Opioid users are particularly vulnerable because of their high level of pre-existing health problems and lifestyle factors. In order to minimise their risks to self and to others in the current Covid-19 crisis, the service has sought to urgently identify vulnerable individuals, and induct them into OST treatment promptly. Additionally, several guidelines have been created and regularly updated by the HSE for any healthcare staff working with opioid users. These include guidance documents, to facilitate prompt induction of patients onto the OST programme, the prescribing of naloxone to all patients at risk of overdose, eConsultation, medication management for those in self-isolation, and the delivery of injecting equipment. The guidance documents and resources will provide a template for a new way of working for the sector during these challenging times and into the future.

Objective: To assess the outcome of treatment, a cross section of women from seven inpatient centres treating alcoholics were interviewed twice: as they entered treatment (n=114) and one year later (n=74) when they returned to the community.Method: The patients were interviewed as they began treatment and 65% were traced for interviews one year later. Measures of self esteem, emotional health and drinking patterns are presented over time.Results: Approximately one half of the women were abstinent when interviewed again and improved emotional health was related to abstinence. Of those who continued to drink many reduced their intake. A logistic regression analysis was applied to the data to explain the results. Among the major findings was the ability of therapists to predict subsequent drinking with a high degree of accuracy.Conclusions: All of the services have abstinence as their goal. This could be challenged since at follow up only half of the women are abstinent. Controlled drinking may well be a valid objective if abstinence fails or could well be a valid objective for some patients.

No abstract

Alcoholic women in Ireland, as in other countries, tend to drink alone and a minority are pub drinkers. There are scant data about alcoholic women who are treated as well as about the outcome of such treatment. A representative sample of women in treatment were interviewed based on consecutive admission to treatment centers in Ireland. The women will be interviewed again 1 year later. Drinking patterns, use of other drugs, parental drinking, and troubles associated with drinking are described.