Abstract
The objectives of this mixed-method study were to investigate the implementation
of the persons treated with narcotics with regard to the information management process
in the Policy to Win the War against Narcotic Drugs, from 1 February to 30 April 2004. A
management model was applied and data were collected from the public health personnel
who worked in the information management process, two provincial personnel, two
district personnel, four tambon personnel and the personnel responsible for finding narcotic
takers/addicts, six district personnel, 6 tambon personnel and 70 village leaders
using in-depth interviews. For 47 public health personnel, focus group discussion was
used as well as documents study and data analysis from the registration form (BST.1-5).
Qualitative data were checked and analyzed by triangulation techniques. Quantitative
data were described as percentages.
The urgent activities followed by the policy, especially determeneing the number of
narcotic takers/addicts, could not be rechecked. There were some persons who had quit
taking narcotics and some persons who had never taken any illicit drugs. The registration
and report form for selecting them and the treatment activities that had been used before
was changed to BST.1-5 and reported on the hospital‘s website. The change occurred after
these processes had already been done; thus, the personnel had to register and report
later. Inadequate essential supporting activities; technological skills (computer and
Internet), urgent problem-solving ability affected some elements of personal data loss,
especially in the area where computer and/or high-speed Internet were not available.
Data diviations occurred in all processes so that the data reported by the website could
not be used for monitoring and evaluation. However, the policy was the most important
factor reinforcing the development of information systems useful for multi-sectors.
Implementation of the policy should be in the same direction. Rechecking the understanding
of personnal and adequate essential support must be provided.
