Substance use among females showing an increasing trend in India. Though there is an increase in the rate of women approaching Deaddiction centre for treatment it is lower than the community prevalence of women with substance use.

This study aims to look at the barriers preventing women from seeking treatment.

To assess the self reported barriers to seek treatment for women with substance users.

A total of 50 substance using women were included among 52 visiting our de-addiction centre from Oct 09 till early part of Jan 10. All of them were self rated on barrier to care questionnaire specially prepared for the study.

The mean age of the sample was 42.32 (SD 12.37). Majority of them were married, house wives studied up to primary. The most common substances used were Alcohol and tobacco (36%), followed by alcohol (26%) and tobacco (26%). The common perceived barriers to care are substance use has a solution to their problem (80%), disadvantage life circumstances (70%), lack of information on treatment options (64%), limited knowledge about treatment available (64%), shame/guilt of using the substance (64%) and limited knowledge about substance use problems (62%).

Findings highlights the areas that require attention for women with substance use. Handling these issues in a better way may increase the treatment seeking in women substance users.