BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Homeless women have shown high rates of substance use disorders (SUD), but many studies are more than a decade old, limited in geographic location, or focus only on women living outdoors or in shelters. The purpose of this study was to obtain a more current and representative sample of homeless women and the prevalence and predictors of substance use disorders among women seeking primary care at Health Care for the Homeless clinics across the US. METHODS: Eleven Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) clinics in nine states contributed proportionally to a sample of n = 780 female patients who completed a self-administered survey including demographics, housing history, health, mental health, and drug and alcohol use. RESULTS: Compared to the general population of women, rates were four times higher for an alcohol use disorder, and 12 times higher for a drug use disorder. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate a significant need for SUD services, with an equally high need for mental health services. In addition, high rates of victimization and use of tobacco, and overall poor health status, indicate overall health disparities. SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE: Addressing barriers to full integration of substance use and mental health services, such as improving screening, reimbursement, clinician training, and addressing biases about motivation of this population to engage in treatment, are necessary to improve the health of women seeking care in HCH settings. (Am J Addict 2017;26:680-688).

BACKGROUND: Homeless women are at high risk for substance use disorder (SUD), and are a growing proportion of the homeless population. However, homeless women experience barriers to engaging in substance use services. OBJECTIVES: Among homeless women with SUD, to explore service use, motivation to change, service barriers, and willingness to have substance use and mental health problems addressed in primary health care. METHODS: Women with SUD were sampled from 11 Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) primary care clinics in 9 states, yielding 241 with either an alcohol or drug use disorder who then completed questions about SUD services. RESULTS: Over 60% of women with dual alcohol and drug use disorders used some type of SUD service in the past year, while 52% with a drug only disorder, and 44% with an alcohol only disorder used services. The most mentioned barrier to service use was depression, but cost, wait time, where to find treatment, and facilities located too far away, were also frequently noted. A large proportion across all groups indicated high motivation for treatment and willingness to discuss their SUD in a primary care setting. CONCLUSION: There are continued barriers to SUD service use for homeless women despite high motivation for treatment, and willingness to be asked about SUD and mental health problems in primary care. HCH primary care sites should more systematically ask about SUD and mental health issues and address womens expressed need for support groups and alternative therapies to more holistically address their SUD needs.