An Adaptation of the Women’s Recovery Group for women veterans with substance use disorders: a quality improvement project

ABSTRACT Women veterans with Substance Use Disorders (SUD) are at increased risk for poor health and psychosocial outcomes. The VA is uniquely poised to treat women veterans in ways that address their distinct experiences. In an effort to incorporate both veteran-centric and gender-specific treatment for women veterans with SUD, this Quality Improvement (QI) project adapted the Women’s Recovery Group (WRG) curriculum to address women veterans’ needs. Using a mixed-methods pre-post pilot evaluation, the acceptability and helpfulness of this adapted intervention was assessed by tracking attendance, session-specific feedback, Brief Addiction Monitor-Revised (BAM-R) scores, and qualitative exit interviews among twenty-nine women veterans engaged in a VA SUD treatment clinic, of which 90% endorsed alcohol use disorder. Women veterans found the content relevant and helpful in addition to the gender-specific treatment setting. The mean number of sessions attended was comparable to the original WRG study and changes on individual BAM-R items indicated that most women maintained good functioning or improved. In summary, this QI project shows promising results for this adapted intervention geared toward meeting the needs of women veterans with SUD and our results call for further research to more fully evaluate the efficacy of the intervention for this growing group of veterans.