Objective Outcome Evaluation of the Project P.A.T.H.S. in Hong Kong: Findings Based on Individual Growth Curve Models

Daniel T.L Shek

doi:10.1100/tsw.2010.18

Abstract

The Tier 1 Program of the Project P.A.T.H.S. (Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social Programmes) is a curricular-based program that attempts to promote positive youth development in Hong Kong. In the second year of the Full Implementation Phase, 20 experimental schools (n = 2,784 students) and 23 control schools (n = 3,401 students) participated in a randomized group trial. Analyses based on linear mixed models via SPSS showed that participants in the experimental schools displayed better positive youth development than did participants in the control schools based on different indicators derived from the Chinese Positive Youth Development Scale. Differences between experimental and control participants were also found when students who joined the Tier 1 Program and perceived the program to be beneficial were employed as participants of the experimental schools.

Highlights

The Project P.A.T.H.S. (Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social Programmes) is a youth enhancement program that attempts to promote holistic youth development in Hong Kong[1]
Using schools as the units of analysis, results showed that the 20 experimental schools and 23 control schools did not differ in the banding of the schools, districts, religion, gender of the students, and source of funding
Further analyses based on experimental participants who found the program to be beneficial vs. control participants showed that the experimental participants generally performed better than control participants in terms of the global positive youth development indicators (Figs. 5–8)

Summary

Introduction

The Project P.A.T.H.S. (Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social Programmes) is a youth enhancement program that attempts to promote holistic youth development in Hong Kong[1]. (Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social Programmes) is a youth enhancement program that attempts to promote holistic youth development in Hong Kong[1]. The Tier 1 Program is a universal positive youth development program based on 15 positive youth development constructs[2] in which students in Secondary 1 to 3 take part. Different stakeholders had positive perceptions of the program and there is support for the effectiveness of the program. Shek[6] collected pre- and post-test data, utilizing the Chinese Positive Youth Development Scale (CPYDS), from 546 students participating in the 20-h Tier 1 Program of the Project P.A.T.H.S. Results showed that there were positive changes in the program participants in many measures

Methods

Results

Conclusion