[Coordination or competence: an emerging problem in the development of network treatment for alcoholics]

The author recognizes the significance and relevance of the network treatment for alcoholics is such a way as an effort to respond not only to the medical needs but also to social service needs, in order to support the recovery of alcoholics. Consequently we are faced to an indispensable task to look back historically the developmental process of the treatment service for alcoholics in Japan. A recent policy development in the alcohol treatment is stimulating the shift from the overweight medical approach to a more comprehensive approach including social services. This innovation is bringing about not only a wider treatment options but also a newly emerging problem of "coordination or competence" as well. It was implied in this paper that a concept of "shared function" is promising to consider this new problem.