IT Enabled Service Innovation In E-Government: The Case Of Taiwan Drug Abuse Reduction Service

Drug abuse problem is one of the toughest issues faced by governments in the world. The typical solution is every time when the drug abuse offenders are under arrest, they are jailed for a while. There is high probability that they will repeat the offense after leaving the prison. Thus, such a solution wastes lots of administrative resources from the government, yet still cannot reduce the recidivism of drug abuse. Nowadays, most countries treat drug abuse offenders as patients, and offer them substitute treatment in order to reduce the dependence on drug and also reduce the risk of infecting AIDS. The patients will go to work as a normal person, live as a normal person, and keep their human dignity. In this study, we introduce the care of Taiwan drug abuse reduction service by service blueprinting method. The service integrates several ministries of Taiwan government in signal information system, and will be triggered automatically when the drug abuse offender is leaving the prison. Subsequently, we analyze the case by the framework of Service Open System View and then provide some suggestions for improvement of the existing service. This study share the case of Taiwan drug abuse reduction service and provide the best practice of improving existing service by the view point of service science to academics

Duration of untreated bipolar disorder: A multicenter study

Little is known about the demographic and clinical differences between short and long duration of untreated bipolar disorder (DUB) in Chinese patients. This study examined the demographic and clinical features of short (≤2 years) and long DUB (\u3e2 years) in China. A consecutively recruited sample of 555 patients with bipolar disorder (BD) was examined in 7 psychiatric hospitals and general hospital psychiatric units across China. Patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics were collected using a standardized protocol and data collection procedure. The mean DUB was 3.2 ± 6.0 years; long DUB accounted for 31.0% of the sample. Multivariate analyses revealed that longer duration of illness, diagnosis of BD type II, and earlier misdiagnosis of BD for major depressive disorder or schizophrenia were independently associated with long DUB. The mean DUB in Chinese BD patients was shorter than the reported figures from Western countries. The long-term impact of DUB on the outcome of BD is warranted