Women's Experiences of Caring for Someone Who Uses Substances in Rural Australia
Tracks
Monarch
| Thursday, November 5, 2026 |
| 2:25 PM - 2:45 PM |
Overview
Julaine Allan, Rural Health Research Institute, Charles Sturt University
Three Key Learnings
1. Caring for someone who uses substances is a gendered and emotionally demanding role that significantly affects women’s mental health and wellbeing across the life course.
2. Rural context compounds caregiving burden through limited services, geographic isolation, and heightened stigma, intensifying risks to women’s mental health.
3. Rural mental health and substance-use services must better recognise women’s caregiving roles and provide accessible, gender responsive support that validates lived experience.
Presenter
Professor Julaine Allan
Professor Translational Behavioural Health
Rural Health Research Institute, Charles Sturt University
Women's Experiences of Caring for Someone Who Uses Substances in Rural Australia
Presentation Overview
Background:
Women have long been positioned as primary caregivers across cultures, a role that becomes especially pronounced in the context of substance use. Substance related harm extends to family members, exposing carers to ongoing and cumulative stress. When combined with rural disadvantage, these gendered caregiving roles create a distinct and under recognised context for women. This study investigated the experiences of women caring for a person who uses substances in rural Australia.
Aim:
This study aimed to explore the experiences of women caring for someone who uses substances in rural Australia, with a focus on the implications for women’s mental health and wellbeing.
Methods:
A qualitative study using semi structured interviews was conducted with women carers living in rural Australia. Data were analysed using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to interpret meanings embedded in participants’ lived experiences. A feminist theoretical lens informed analysis, supporting attention to gendered expectations, power, and care.
Results:
Twenty one women aged 28–67 years participated. Three key themes were identified: (1) the emotional burden of care, reflecting sustained emotional labour and psychological strain; (2) care expectations, highlighting women’s strong sense of obligation to maintain relationships and continue caregiving despite personal cost; and (3) the costs of caring, encompassing emotional, physical, social, and financial impacts on women’s wellbeing.
Discussion:
Findings demonstrate that women in rural Australia experience significant mental health burden associated with caring for a loved one who uses substances. This caregiving work is frequently minimised, contributing to invisibility and limited support. Greater recognition of substance related caregiving as legitimate care is needed, alongside rural service responses that acknowledge women’s mental health needs, challenge judgemental attitudes, and provide accessible, gender responsive support.
Women have long been positioned as primary caregivers across cultures, a role that becomes especially pronounced in the context of substance use. Substance related harm extends to family members, exposing carers to ongoing and cumulative stress. When combined with rural disadvantage, these gendered caregiving roles create a distinct and under recognised context for women. This study investigated the experiences of women caring for a person who uses substances in rural Australia.
Aim:
This study aimed to explore the experiences of women caring for someone who uses substances in rural Australia, with a focus on the implications for women’s mental health and wellbeing.
Methods:
A qualitative study using semi structured interviews was conducted with women carers living in rural Australia. Data were analysed using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to interpret meanings embedded in participants’ lived experiences. A feminist theoretical lens informed analysis, supporting attention to gendered expectations, power, and care.
Results:
Twenty one women aged 28–67 years participated. Three key themes were identified: (1) the emotional burden of care, reflecting sustained emotional labour and psychological strain; (2) care expectations, highlighting women’s strong sense of obligation to maintain relationships and continue caregiving despite personal cost; and (3) the costs of caring, encompassing emotional, physical, social, and financial impacts on women’s wellbeing.
Discussion:
Findings demonstrate that women in rural Australia experience significant mental health burden associated with caring for a loved one who uses substances. This caregiving work is frequently minimised, contributing to invisibility and limited support. Greater recognition of substance related caregiving as legitimate care is needed, alongside rural service responses that acknowledge women’s mental health needs, challenge judgemental attitudes, and provide accessible, gender responsive support.
Biography
Heidi has Honours degree in Psychology and is a PhD candidate in mental health and addictions. Her research focuses on the experiences of concerned significant others caring for people who use alcohol and other drugs in rural Australia. Heidi’s work uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to examine mental health, caregiving, and access to support services. Heidi is also a trained teacher.
