Understanding barriers and facilitators to women’s recovery from opioid use disorder: a focus group study

This study examined barriers to accessing treatment and recovery support for opioid use disorder (OUD) among women and suggested solutions to overcoming them. Ten in-depth focus groups (27 participants) were conducted with women in recovery from August 2023 to January 2024. Transcripts were analyzed by two coders using an inductive approach guided by grounded theory methods. Major themes that emerged highlighted the ways compounding challenges make accessing treatment and entering recovery difficult, as well as the unique hardships encountered by mothers. Themes related to potential solutions included fostering supportive communities of women, improving the availability of gender-specific resources and support, and providing comprehensive, individualized recovery services. Further research on implementation strategies is needed to integrate these suggestions into treatment and recovery settings. Moving forward, it is critical that the hard-won victories of women in recovery are directly translated into action to improve OUD treatment and recovery settings for women.