Sex and Gender Effects in Recovery From Alcohol Use Disorder

Course overview

This course is based upon material published in the Alcohol Research current reviews and is available as an open-access article. The current article provides a brief summary of biopsychosocial gender differences in alcohol use disorder (AUD), then reviews existing literature on gender differences in treatment access, retention, outcomes, and longer-term recovery. Among psychotherapies for AUD, there is support for the efficacy of providing female-specific treatment, and for female-only treatment settings but only when female-specific treatment is included. However, despite mandates from the National Institutes of Health to do so, there is little work thus far that directly compares genders on outcomes of specific psychotherapies or pharmacotherapies for AUD. Although existing research has mixed findings on sex and gender differences in overall outcomes, there are more consistent findings suggesting different mechanisms of behavior change among men and women in AUD treatment and long-term recovery. Thus, more work is needed that attends to gender and sex differences, including planning studies that are structured to examine not only gender-differentiated outcomes in treatment response, but equally important, differences in treatment access and attendance as well as differences in mechanisms of change in drinking behavior. This course on biopsychosocial gender differences in AUD is designed for social workers, professional counselors, psychologists, nurses, and substance abuse counselors, who do clinical work. In addition, this course is appropriate for beginning, intermediate and advanced level practitioners who wish to develop their knowledge of biopsychosocial gender differences in AUD. The course material includes a literature review of alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence research. It may also be useful for licensed clinicians who require continuing clinical education courses for license renewal. The course is based on a journal article that includes research. It contains statistical analysis and data that some clinicians enjoy reading and others do not. A significant benefit of reading research-based articles for continuing education is they provide practitioners with the latest findings in their field. Authors: Holzhauer, Cucciare, Epstein Learning Objectives: This course will provide the practitioner with detailed information regarding biopsychosocial gender differences in AUD. Specifically, a professional will: Identify the efficacy of providing female-specific treatment Distinguish differences between sex and gender differences in overall outcomes when treating AUD Summarize biopsychosocial gender differences in alcohol use disorder Citation: Holzhauer, C. G., Cucciare, M., & Epstein, E. E. (2020). Sex and gender effects in recovery from alcohol use disorder. Alcohol research: current reviews, 40(3).