Paper short abstract:

Gender-based violence remains one of the most persistent human rights issues of our time. We presents the ethnographic fieldwork to understand and describe the experiences, motives and feelings of women who receive treatment for drug abuse and who have suffered violence in Andalusia.

Paper long abstract:

Gender-based violence remains one of the most persistent and pressing human rights issues of our time. In fact, it reinvents itself in different ways intersectionally based on age, rural or urban residence, or the type of psychoactive substance use of women who are assaulted. In the field of drug dependence, gender-based violence has been seen as a barrier to access to treatment for women in need of help. However, as research in this field advances, we believe that it is much more, because of the impact it has on the lives and health of women who use or abuse drugs and because of its bidirectional nature: women who are victims of gender violence abuse substances to cope with their discomfort and, in the opposite direction, having problems with drugs exposes them to abusing drugs to a greater extent than women who do not have them.

We presents the ethnographic fieldwork carried out in the context of a research project carried out in Andalucía (España). Through an ethnographic approach we have used life stories to collect data. Our aim has been to understand and describe the experiences, motives and feelings of women who receive treatment for drug abuse and who have suffered violence, in order to make the intervention more comprehensive and effective.

From direct contact with the women who have been interviewed in their treatment centres, I will reflect on the experience and personal feelings and also on the ethical problems with a population in extreme vulnerability.