Transplantation of a positive youth development program in mainland China

Abstract

Project P.A.T.H.S. is an evidence-based positive youth development program developed in Hong Kong. Although it was reported as effective to promote adolescent development in Hong Kong, it is unclear whether it can be transplanted to mainland China. To enrich our understanding of the transplantation of the program to mainland China, this study examined issues surrounding adaptation, implementation quality, and effectiveness of the program. Several research questions were asked in this study: Can the program be implemented according to the original design in mainland China? What adaptations are identified in the implementation process? What are the reasons for adaptation? What factors affect the implementation quality? What are the perceptions of different stakeholders of the implementation quality? Is the program effective as revealed by multiple evaluation strategies? This study evaluated the process of implementing the program in a junior secondary school in Guangzhou. The school personnel who were interested in and capable of conducting the transplantation were selected to collaborate with the researcher as the primary intended users of the study. Using the principles of utilization-focused evaluation, four evaluation strategies were employed for the study. These included: (1) process evaluation; (2) qualitative evaluation; (3) objective evaluation; (4) subjective evaluation. Related instruments validated in Hong Kong were utilized to assess and compare the performance and/or perception of three types of stakeholders, including the Management body (N=4), Program implementers (N=14), and Program participants (N=520).

With reference to the research questions, several observations can be drawn fromthepresent findings. First, the program could be implemented at the school setting in mainland China according to the original design, although some adaptations were conducted before and during the implementation process. Second, adding relevant materials with reference to the socio-cultural characteristics and integrating implementers' experiences into their practice were perceived as necessary and acceptable adaptations to facilitate effective implementation in the school context. Third, the reasons for adaptations were mostly related to cognitive, psychological, and logistical aspects. However, logistical constraints for adaptation, such as unmanageable class size, should be assessed before the program implementation. Fourth, features of the program such as using interactive activities facilitated the implementation process. Fifth, the main problem affecting implementation quality was the negative perceptions of some program implementers in the implementation process and related school policies. Sixth, although the findings from the objective outcome evaluation did not support program effectiveness, the findings from the subjective and qualitative outcome evaluation studies did. Seventh, triangulation of the findings based on multiple evaluation strategies suggest that the transplanted program was effective in promoting adolescent development. All these findings support the transplantation in light of the original design and also facilitate a comprehensive understanding with reference to local concerns. As a study which demonstrates the issues of transplanting Project P.A.T.H.S. from Hong Kong to mainland China, the present study contributes to the literature on positive youth development. The conceptual, methodological, and practical contributions of the study are discussed.