Background: Few studies of mental health or substance abuse have focused on rural life. This study aimed to evaluate the association between socio-demographic and clinical characteristics and the probability of rural alcoholic women seeking help on their own at a specialty treatment service.
Methods: This exploratory study used a cross-sectional design to collect data from alcoholic women upon admission to a French outpatient department. Multiple logistic regression models tested whether the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of these women predicted the likelihood that they would seek treatment at a specialty service on their own.
Results: Among 50 rural alcoholic women, the probability of seeking help on their own at a specialty treatment service was 5.6 times greater (95% CI 1.2-25.7, P=0.03) for participants with a history of physical and/or sexual trauma and 5.1 times greater (95% CI 1.1-24, P=0.03) among women with no complementary health insurance.
Conclusion: Increased knowledge of the specific characteristics of rural alcoholic women is needed to develop programs that will increase awareness of and access to specialty treatment services among these women.
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