In light of the increasing demand for female drug addiction care and its internationally acknowledged specificity, this qualitative study was carried out in Salvador, BA, Brazil, from October 2003 to September 2004. It aimed to investigate whether the context of care in which participants are inserted interferes with the visibility of female drug addiction. Participant observation and content analysis of 19 interviews performed with health care practitioners revealed that some aspects of female drug addiction were perceived differently according to the context of care (institution versus outdoors): demand, kind of drug used, age, social roles and partner's influence in the initiation and maintenance of drug use. Since the context of care impacts the health care practitioners' representation of female drug users which in turn can affect the strategies devised for their care, we recommend that not only the contexts of care within the studied unit should be articulate, but these contexts with those from other health services as well.
substance related disorders; women; delivery of health care; gender identity