MRC PhD student

Level of study: PhD

Title: Exploring woman’s alcohol addiction, treatment history and barriers in accessing alcohol misuse treatment.

Project summary:
There is still a greater stigma associated with alcohol misuse for women than for men (Reed, 1987). It has been argued that women alcoholics suffer from triple stigmatisation (Downing, 1991). First, as alcoholics who as a group are looked down on by society (Stafford & Petway, 1977); secondly, because drinking in a woman is seen as worse than in a man, due to women's role in society (Sandmaier 1977, 1980); and third, from the dimension of sexual promiscuity that is inevitably assigned to alcoholic women, representing an additional burden not felt by men alcoholics (Sandmaier, 1980).

Women may avoid treatment because they do not want to leave their children or do not have the resources to arrange for independent childcare (Beckman, 1994). They may also face the risk of having their children taken away from them because of their addiction and often may delay treatment because of feelings of shame and guilt (Beckman & Amaro, 1986). Hence the barriers to treatment that underline women’s need to conceal their drinking require deeper exploration. This is particularly warranted in the South African context where race, gender and other societal factors such as religion and poverty may be significant variables. 

There is a need for qualitative research to understand the dynamics of women’s alcohol use and how this impacts on their accessing treatment. This project utilizes the Human Scientific Approach to the psychological subject embedded in a context/world of meaning, with an aim to magnify human experience and interpret it, rather than reduce it to a statistical relationship (Giorgi, 1970). Under the umbrella of the Human Scientific Approach, social constructionism is used to access data on women’s problem drinking simply because social constructionism understands that behaviour is embedded in and articulates persons’ meanings. 

The specific aims of the study are to:

• Explore women’s addiction history;
• Explore women’s treatment history (or lack there of);
• Identify barriers and nature of barriers that limit women’s access to alcohol misuse treatment;
• Identify the reasons for women not accessing treatment; and
• Interpret women’s experiences of treatment per se.
  

Narrative interviews will be conducted with 10 females recruited by purposive sampling through the Alcoholic Anonymous organisation. The interview data will be transcribed, coded and analysed using the discourse analytic method. After transcribing the interviews, the narratives will be coded according to categories deemed theoretically important. Results from this study will facilitate an understanding of women’s unique experiences with alcoholism and may provide an informed framework to deal more effectively with the addiction.

Supervisors: Prof. A.V. Naidoo Psychology Depart, Stellenbosch University Prof. P. Reddy Dir. Health Promotion Res & Dev Unit, MRC
Study Institution: Stellenbosch University
MRC Unit: Health Promotion Research & Development Unit