The international literature indicates that men and women entering drug treatment differ in demographic characteristics,drug use histories, offending and psychosocial behaviour patterns. There are mixed findings on gender differences in treatment outcomes, with most large-scale studies showing no differences and other (smaller) studies favouring one gender over the other. To maximise the effectiveness of any treatment programme catering for both men and women,service providers must be aware of, and address, any gender-based variations.

The aim of this paper is to determine whether any such variations exist among a cohort of opiate users in treatment in Ireland. To this end gender differences in the characteristics, problems and 1-year treatment outcomes of 285 opiate users who participated in the ROSIE Study (and completed interviews at the two time periods) are explored.