Design of a positive youth development program in Hong Kong

The design of a positive youth development program in Hong Kong is outlined. Based on adolescent developmental issues observed in Hong Kong and the conceptual framework on positive youth development, a 2-tier program was designed. For the Tier 1 Program, it is a universal positive youth development program for students in Secondary 1 to Secondary 3 with the curricula developed by a research team comprising scholars from different disciplines (e.g., social work, psychology, and education). For the Tier 2 Program, it is a selective program targeting adolescents with greater psychosocial needs, developed by school social workers providing school social work service in the schools. With particular reference to the Tier 1 program, several principles are maintained in the design of the program. These include comprehensive coverage of positive youth development constructs, theoretical and empirical grounding of the program, holistic emphasis, focus on both adolescent development assets and problems, developmentally appropriate content, culturally relevant content, multi-year intervention, provision of proper and adequate training to the workers, and use of effective teaching methods in the delivery of the program.