Background: Addiction is a serious problem in the world, Sweden included. This disease can affect anyone, regardless of gender and age. People with addiction, like the rest of the population, are entitled to respectful encounters in healthcare. However, research about encounters with patients suffering from addiction is limited and research about the possible impact of the patient's gender in this process – according to our knowledge – has not yet been published.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to describe nurses' experience about the eventual gender specific encounter of patients in addiction care units.

Method: Data was assessed by nine semi-structured interviews which were analysed with qualitative content analysis.

Results: The result was presented in two categories; to encounter patients regardless of their gender and to encounter patients according to their gender. The two categories consisted of several subcategories that emphasized the importance of a professional caring encounter, how patients were encountered according to individual differences and how the encounter was affected by whether the patient was a woman, man or without defined gender.

Conclusion: Nurses felt that professional encounter was important in addiction care. Their intention was to treat patients alike, however the study revealed some differences in encountering process that could be linked to the patient's gender.