Group Process in the Single-Gender Women's Recovery Group Compared With Mixed-Gender Group Drug Counseling

Enhanced affiliation among members is thought to provide increased support for women in single-gender compared with mixed-gender group therapy for substance use disorders (SUDs) and to provide a potential mechanism of action for its efficacy. In a Stage I trial of single-gender versus mixed-gender group therapy for SUDs, we examined affiliative statements made by members in 2 group treatments-the single-gender Women's Recovery Group (WRG) and mixed-gender group drug counseling (GDC). Twenty-eight WRG and 17 GDC group therapy tapes were coded and compared for 5 types of affiliative statements. Three types of affiliative statements (agreement, supportive, and completing a thought) were highly correlated and were more frequent in WRG than in GDC (d = 0.882, p =.27). In GDC, women were more likely to provide an affiliative statement to a male group member than any other combination of directionality (p <.01). Compared with mixed-gender group therapy, single-gender group therapy for SUDs may enhance support through greater frequency of affiliative statements.