The University of Arizona has been awarded a $1.2 million federal grant to study substance abuse treatment for young women.

Dr. Sally Stevens, executive director of the Southwest Institute for Research on Women, said the Institute will study and test several different models for treatment and recovery.

"It's a different approach for drug treatment research," she said. "This is important. The adolescent research is not that old and we have not come that far along to be looking at gender-specific research for girls."

Bridget Ruiz, principal investigator for the grant, said, "It's really about creating a paradigm shift. Substance abuse treatment has historically been an acute episode of treatment where you come in for 90 days, get the curriculum and treatment, and are sent on your way. We've found that it really takes one year at least for young people, moving and out of recovery, before they come to some stability."

Over 2.1 million teenagers needed treatment for alcohol or drug abuse in 2006, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health - but only 181,000 received treatment at a specialty facility.

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Labels: genders, treatment, women