Longitudinal cost of services in a homeless sample with cocaine use disorder

ABSTRACT

Homeless people with cocaine use disorder have multiple comorbidities and costly service needs. This study examined service costs associated with cocaine use and substance service use in substance, psychiatric, and medical service sectors. 127 homeless participants with cocaine use disorder were interviewed annually. Self-report and agency-report service use and cost data were combined. Pairwise comparisons were made with cocaine abstinence and substance service use in relation to mean and yearly proportional service costs in 3 service sectors. Among substance service users, the achievement of abstinence was not associated with decreased substance service costs. Cocaine abstinence was associated with proportional reduction of substance service costs over time. Substance service use was associated with proportional reduction of psychiatric service costs over time among the abstinent subgroup. Conversely, substance service use was associated with continuing higher medical service expenditures in the abstinent subgroup and higher psychiatric service expenditures in those not abstinent. Homeless individuals who achieved cocaine abstinence after using substance services had decreased substance service expenditures. Individuals with continued substance service use had greater medical and psychiatric service costs. Policy-based on maximizing benefits while minimizing costs appears insufficiently complex to incorporate the multiple needs and associated with the costs of treating homeless populations.     

Service Productivity: What Stops Service Firms from Measuring It?

Productivity measurement poses a challenge for service organizations. Conventional management wisdom holds that this challenge is rooted in the difficulty of accurately quantifying service inputs and outputs. Few service firms have adequate service productivity measurement (SPM) systems in place and implementing such systems may involve organizational transformation. Combining field interviews and literature-based insights, the authors develop a conceptual model of antecedents of SPM in service firms and test it using data from 276 service firms. Results indicate that one out of five antecedents affects the choice to use SPM, namely, the degree of service standardization. In addition, all five hypothesized antecedents and one additional antecedent (perceived appropriateness of the current SPM) predict the degree of SPM usage. In particular, the degree of SPM is positively influenced by the degree of service standardization, service customization, investments in service productivity gains, and the appropriateness of current service productivity measures. In turn, customer integration and the perceived difficulty of measuring service productivity negatively affect SPM. The fact that customer integration impedes actual measurement of service productivity is a surprising finding, given that customer integration is widely seen as a means to increase service productivity. The authors conclude with implications for service organizations and directions for research.     

青少年事务服务体制的国际经验与启示

青少年事务是影响社会稳定的重要因素,越来越多的国家和地区把青少年事务摆到了重要的议事日程。近年来,我国青少年事务服务体制随着社会经济的发展不断完善,但尚有诸多环节和因素亟待进一步提高和优化。因此,国际先进国家和地区青少年事务服务体制的经验值得借鉴。结合青少年事务服务体制的发展特点,我国完善青少年事务服务体制的思路应从增强服务意识、完善服务组织体系、优化服务内容、改善服务环境和创新服务方式等多方面入手。     

Measurement Issues of Service Use Among Elders

In spite of the frequency with which researchers study service use, there is no clear consensus about how to best measure service use. This article provides a critical analysis of how service use is defined and measured among elders. Specific questions focused on how services are defined and classified, how service use is operationalized, and how the data on service use are collected. Through a comprehensive search of several databases, 20 studies measuring service use among elders and published from 2001 to 2006 were analyzed. Results revealed that most research focused on the health service use among older adults. Services were distinguished and classified based on type of service provided in a majority of the studies. The majority of the studies quantified service use dichotomously in terms of use and nonuse, whereas more than one-third qualified service use in terms of frequency of some unit. Self-report and provider records are two sources of information about service utilization among elders. The suggestions of how to improve measurement of service use among elders are discussed.     

服务经济的内涵、特征及其发展趋势

服务经济是经济社会发展到高级阶段的产物,是以提供服务产品为核心的经济形态。＂服务化＂、＂融合化＂、＂网络化＂、＂高端化＂、＂两极化＂是服务经济的形态特征,服务业占主导地位是服务经济的结构特征,稳定增长是服务经济的运行特征,集聚发展是服务经济的布局特征,对制度环境和综合配套环境要求更高是服务经济发展的环境特征。当前服务经济发展的趋势是：从初级向高级发展,从传统向现代发展,从非生态化向生态化发展。体验经济可能成为服务经济发展的高级形态。     

上海现代服务业的空间集聚与演化效应

现代服务业是伴随着信息技术和知识经济的发展而产生,用现代化的新技术、新业态和新服务方式改造和提升传统服务业,创造需求,引导消费,向社会提供高附加值、多层次、知识型的生产服务和生活服务的国民经济新领域。产业集群的崛起是在全球经济一体化的背景下,产业为创造竞争优势而形成的产业空间组织形式。上海现代服务业表现出集群化发展趋势,大量的现代服务企业在空间上形成集聚,进一步提升了上海服务业的水平和质量。     

大学生志愿精神的培育与弘扬

大学生志愿者通过志愿服务向世人展现了“奉献、友爱、互助、进步”的志愿精神和当代青年积极向上的精神面貌。现时代,高校如何在大学生中培育、弘扬、传承志愿精神是要关注的课题。对高校志愿服务工作的调研．有助于了解当前高校志愿精神培育和弘扬情况。培育大学生的志愿精神,就要重视发挥志愿服务和志愿精神在高校德育工作中的作用,建立良好的志愿服务组织和管理机制,创新培养和弘扬志愿精神的载体和形式,提升志愿服务组织者的专业水平,完善志愿服务的保障机制。     

关于上海科技服务业发展环境的调研

近年来,上海科技创新体系总体呈现良好发展态势。但现阶段仍然存在着科技成果转化率低、科技成果转化供需双方两头冷的现象。究其原因,地区科技服务业发展相对滞后是一个重要原因。总体来看,上海虽已初步形成了科技创新服务体系,但科技服务能力的疲软仍是阻碍创新型城市和创新型国家的建设的短板。上海应逐步调整科技服务业的发展路径,将科技服务业列入现代服务业的主要产业来培育,进一步优化科技服务业市场化运作环境,有效激发其活力,从而提升上海城市综合服务功能和自主创新能力。     

地方高职院校社会服务能力建设研究——以湖南铁路科技职业技术学院为例

高职院校开展社会服务是高等教育发展的必然趋势,是区域经济社会发展的客观要求,也是高职院校自身发展的内在动力。通过对高职院校社会服务能力的内涵剖析及社会服务现状分析,找出当前我国高职院校社会服务能力建设中存在的问题,提出通过树立社会服务办学理念、构建多元化社会服务平台、加强基础能力建设、实施品牌战略等提高社会服务能力的有效途径,并最终形成具有高职特色的服务模式。     

Bespoke program design for school-aged therapy disability service delivery

This article uses the evaluation of a school-aged therapy service for children with disabilities in Western Australia to investigate models of service delivery. The current literature on family-centered practice, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches, and 4 models of service are reviewed. The models include the life needs model, the relational goal-orientated model of optimal service delivery to children and families, the quality of life model, and the collaborative model of service delivery. Analysis of the data is presented together with a bespoke model of service delivery for children with disabilities, arguing that local contexts benefit from custom-made service design.     

刍议上海国际航运中心建设中的口岸服务

口岸服务是国际航运中心建设中不可或缺的部分。上海国际航运中心建设的口岸服务主要在于政府的口岸服务，通过总结口岸服务中存在的问题，提出建议，不断完善口岸服务功能。     

Service quality framework for the South African Revenue Service from the perspective of the tax practitioner

The objective of the present research was to propose a service quality framework regarding the service quality of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) from the perspective of the tax practitioner. In order to develop the specific “lens of the tax practitioner” regarding the service quality of SARS, an in-depth, qualitative approach was required to identify a comprehensive range of determinants that potentially drive service quality in the revenue service industry and setting. One such qualitative method is the critical incident technique, which relies on a set of procedures to collect comments on service experiences, to perform a content analysis and to classify the observations of service experiences. A process of natural language argument was used to convert the data analysis results and the relevant elements of the theory from the literature survey into the service determinants. This “lens of the tax practitioner” can be used as a basis for developing a service quality measuring instrument that could measure the service quality of SARS from the perspective of the tax practitioner.     

上海以科技创新促进服务创新中心城市建设的战略思考

上海以科技创新促进服务创新中心城市建设,需要破除各类制度藩篱,全面优化和重构城市创新体系,培育和造就各类服务主体,推动服务经济、服务型社会和服务型城市的持续和深入发展;即,加快服务型政府建设,促进服务型社会组织发展,加快服务型社区的示范与推广,造就一代具有服务意识的城市新居民。     

上海服务业综合改革试点的成效及亟待突破的困境

上海首批服务业综合改革试点工作取得了显著成效,但也面临着困境。为了加快构筑以服务经济为主的产业结构、加快完善与国际接轨的服务经济制度,上海亟需在首批服务业综合改革试点工作的基础上,开展新一轮的服务业综合改革试点,实现"以点上的探索突破,带动面上的创新发展"。同时,为了深入推进服务业综合改革试点,上海需强化服务业综合改革试点工作的总体指导;建立全市层面的服务业综合改革的评价考核机制;完善服务业综合改革试点单位的申报和淘汰机制;对服务业综合改革试点单位给予权限下放或政策倾斜;总结服务业综合改革试点的创新经验,开展第二批试点工作。     

Exploring the Hidden Nature of Gambling Problems among People Who Are Homeless

Abstract

Although people with gambling problems are now recognised to be among those groups of people at increased risk of homelessness, little research has explored their experiences. This qualitative interpretive study explored the experiences of people who were homeless and had gambling problems, and the housing and gambling service providers assisting them. In-depth interviews were conducted with 17 service users and 18 service providers. A key finding was that gambling problems among those experiencing homelessness are often hidden; few people presented to housing services admitting to gambling problems. Shame, stigma, and identity issues were described as the main reasons service users did not disclose their gambling activities. The research highlighted that the relationship between service providers and service users was infused with power imbalances and shaped by social discourses and policies that demand self-responsibility and hinder information sharing between service providers and service users.     

服务经济发展对制度环境的要求

由于服务经济时代的经济活动主要围绕提供服务产品进行,具有无形性、多样性和信息不对称性的特点,道德风险和逆向选择的可能性更大,因而与工业经济相比,它更加依赖于市场化、法治化、国际化和创新化的制度环境。完善的制度环境是服务经济形成和加速发展的基础。市场化、法治化、国际化、创新化的核心集聚起来就是服务经济发展对制度环境的基本要求。     

社会工作视角下大学生志愿服务长效机制构建

当前我国大学生志愿服务大多属于临时或短期的志愿服务活动,缺乏稳定性和持久性,严重制约了大学生志愿服务的深入及可持续发展。大学生志愿服务长效机制的建立,是保证志愿服务可持续发展的重要条件。个人、志愿服务和学校层面因素对大学生长期参与志愿服务产生着不同影响,通过社会工作视角分析发现,健全志愿者选拔与培训体系、导入社工价值理念、建立监督评估激励机制、创建社工义工联动机制等是构建大学生志愿服务长效机制的重要内容。     

The impacts of accessible child protection services on services, jobs, and families

This multi-faceted study assessed the differences between accessible and central child protection service delivery sites in Ontario on: (1) family functioning; (2) front-line child protection service providers' satisfaction with services; (3) parents' satisfaction with services; (4) the services and supports available to families; (5) front-line service job satisfaction; and (6) front-line helping relationships in child welfare. A quasi-experimental outcome design gathered data from parents at case-opening and approximately 10 months later. Semi-structured individual or group qualitative interviews were conducted with parents, front-line service providers, and supervisors/managers. Information also was gathered from agency files. Front-line service providers completed an employment questionnaire. Findings indicated that the accessible sites were able to foster a greater proportion of cooperative helping relationships with families and to create more service partnerships. Parents at the accessible sites were more positive about their service involvements and more willing to ask for help again in the future. Front-line child protection service providers at both service delivery models described positive aspects of their jobs as well as frustrations with the expectations of the formal child protection system.