Evidence suggests that service providers have varying concepts of women-specific interventions. A study of seven programs in western New York state involved in-person interviews with program participants and attempted to determine the programs' willingness to break from treatment orthodoxy, their population-specificity and their focus on individual versus social issues. The study suggests a number of strategies for maintaining intervention effectiveness, including: (1) Hire female administrators and clinicians, with a focus on diversity; (2) Involve the target constituency in shaping services and how they are delivered; (3) Offer women the opportunity to learn lobbying and other social change and policy change skills; (4) Train staff in how to address women's needs, with special attention to differences among women; (5) Provide child care and assistance with transportation; (6) Help service users understand the interaction between alcohol use and environmental stressors such as poverty and discrimination; and (7) Screen for social service needs and develop formal agreements with agencies to meet those needs, including health, housing, legal and employment/employability services. Tables, references