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Monday, December 1, 2008

Cultural Analysis as a Perspective for Gender-Informed Alcohol Treatment Research in a Swedish Context
Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access published online on November 30, 2008


An exploratory study to investigate the role of culture in women's drinking at a clinic for women with alcohol problems in a Swedish treatment context.

The patients perceived themselves as having a sub-group status. A trajectory of ritualized actions around drinking, especially private drinking rituals, was identified. Existential components of patients’ struggles with addiction in a highly secularized cultural context were identified. Multiple, contradictory explanatory frameworks for understanding drinking problems were creating cognitive dissonance.

Using cultural analysis as a perspective for gaining gendered information may allow for identifying new patterns within specific cultural and subgroup contexts. It may contribute new information to the following treatment research areas: gender-appropriate measurement issues; service integration; gender-appropriate services for women; and, drinking rituals and patterns.


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