What do women get out of self-help? Their reasons for attending Women for Sobriety and Alcoholics Anonymous.

It has been variously argued in the literature on women and alcohol that there is insufficient evidence to determine whether there is a need for women to be treated separately and differently from alcoholic men; that the findings are mixed; that the treatment characteristics that are more or less effective with women still are not known; and that some types of treatment are indeed best for women. This paper considers reasons for distinct treatment approaches for alcoholic women and considers in depth one such solution: Women For Sobriety (WFS). Using data from the first comprehensive survey of the WFS membership (response rate = 73%, n = 600), the reasons given by respondents for attending WFS and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), and for not attending AA, are presented. Respondents said they attend WFS for support and nurturance (54%), for a safe environment (26%), for sharing about women's issues (42%), and because of its positive emphasis (38%) and focus on self esteem (39%). They attend AA primarily as insurance against relapse (28%), for its wide availability (25%), and for sharing (31%) and support (27%). Women who do not attend AA mentioned feeling as though they never fit in at AA (20%), finding AA too negative (18%), disliking the drunkalogs (14%) and their focus on the past (14%), and feeling that AA is geared to men's needs (15%). To provide a context for understanding what WFS members get out of attending WFS that they do not get out of AA, a brief description of WFS and a comparison between WFS and AA are provided. Implications for treatment referral are also discussed.