Abstract
BackgroundAlcohol use disorder (AUD) constitutes a major public health problem and is associated with a substantial amount of disability and premature death worldwide. Several treatment and self-help options including Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings are available. Nevertheless, factors associated with AA affiliation in some disadvantaged groups such as justice-involved women are not well understood. The purpose of this study is to report on previously unexamined correlates of past year AA affiliation among women in pretrial jail detention.MethodsThe current study used cross-sectional data from 168 women with DSM-5 diagnosis of AUD in pretrial jail detention. The study examined factors related to women’s concept of self and others (i.e., disbelief that others are trustworthy, lack of autonomy to choose who they interact with, experience of violent victimization, low investment in self-care, higher stress levels, and homelessness) as correlates of past-year AA affiliation, controlling for severity of AUD and demographic factors.ResultsWomen who believe that others are inherently trustworthy, women who met less AUD criteria, and women who are older reported more past-year AA affiliation in both univariate and multivariate analyses.ConclusionIntroducing AA outreach and alternative interventions for younger, less severely addicted women might improve AUD outcomes. Moreover, designing more individualized treatment plan for women who believe others are not trust worthy might help AUD treatment engagement in this population.Trial registrationNCT01970293, 10/28/2013.
Highlights
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) constitutes a major public health problem and is associated with a substantial amount of disability and premature death worldwide
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) could serve as an ideal support for justice-involved women as history of criminal involvement may limit access to treatment and other resources
The purpose of this study was to examine correlates of past-year AA affiliation among women with heavy alcohol use who are in jail
Summary
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) constitutes a major public health problem and is associated with a substantial amount of disability and premature death worldwide. Factors associated with AA affiliation in some disadvantaged groups such as justice-involved women are not well understood. Alcohol use disorder (AUD) constitutes a major public health problem and is associated with disability and premature death worldwide [1]. Since the recognition of AUD as a disorder 60 years ago [9], self-help options have become widespread, 12-step programs [10,11,12]. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is among the most affordable and accessible form of help for justice-involved women [13]. AA could serve as an ideal support for justice-involved women as history of criminal involvement may limit access to treatment and other resources. Incarceration weakens vital social support which is instrumental in accessing healthcare and other services at reentry [14, 15]
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