Drug treatment disparities among Hispanic drug-using women in Puerto Rico and New York City

This paper reports findings on 334 out-of-treatment drug users in Puerto Rico and 617 in New York City, at the 6-month follow-up interview of a Longitudinal Survey. Main outcomes were health care and drug treatment utilization since baseline, assessed by asking participants if they had received phys...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Health policy (Amsterdam) Vol. 75; no. 2; pp. 159 - 169
Main Authors:	Robles, Rafaela Rivera, Matos, Tomás David, Deren, Sherry, Colón, Héctor Manuel, Sahai, Hardeo, Marrero, Carmen Amalia, Reyes, Juan Carlos, Andía, Jonny, Shepard, Elizabeth Winfield
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Ireland Elsevier Ireland Ltd 2006 Elsevier
Series:	Health Policy
Subjects:	Adolescent Adult Disparities Drug treatment utilization Female Health Services Accessibility Hispanic Americans Humans Longitudinal Studies New York City Puerto Rico Puerto Rico - ethnology Substance-Related Disorders - therapy Women health New York City Puerto Rico Puerto Rico Disparities Women health Drug treatment utilization
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Summary:	This paper reports findings on 334 out-of-treatment drug users in Puerto Rico and 617 in New York City, at the 6-month follow-up interview of a Longitudinal Survey. Main outcomes were health care and drug treatment utilization since baseline, assessed by asking participants if they had received physical or mental health services (including HIV medications), and if they had been in methadone maintenance, inpatient or outpatient drug treatment, or drug treatment while incarcerated. Chi-square tests were used to evaluate associations between gender and the various correlates. Logistic regression was used to calculate the contribution of each variable in predicting use of drug treatment. The analysis suggests that women in both sites were likely to suffer from disparities in both health care and drug treatment utilization when compared with men, albeit women in New York utilized more drug treatment resources and were more embedded in the immediate family than their female peers in Puerto Rico. Further research to specify the impact of contextual factors at the organizational and community levels, among members of the same ethnic group residing in different sites, may prove valuable in identifying the health needs and the factors that impede or facilitate drug-using women in obtaining the most appropriate treatment. Findings from these studies can help in developing appropriate public health policy and science-based drug treatment programs to eliminate disparities such as the ones detected in this study.
ISSN:	0168-8510 1872-6054
DOI:	10.1016/j.healthpol.2005.03.004