Promoting social emotional learning in Chinese schools: a feasibility study of PATHS implementation in Hong Kong

Poster 1Social emotion learning (SEL) can be taught in schools. The present report describes a pilot trial of the PATHS Curriculum, a US developed evidence-based SEL program, among schools in Hong Kong SAR (China). Three elementary schools, 318 students in 12 first grade classrooms, participated in the study. The first grade PATHS lessons were adapted and translated into Chinese. Twelve teachers learned and adopted these lessons in their teaching. Students in these classrooms learned about different emotions and practiced self control. The intervention lasted for four months. After the intervention, students showed increase in their emotion understanding, improvement in their emotional regulation and prosocial behaviors. No change was observed in the levels of children’s problem behaviors. Over 65% of the participating teachers reported high degree of satisfaction and willingness to adopt the intervention in their classrooms. Further analyses indicated that the effects of the intervention varied among schools. There were also variations in the dosage of intervention and principal support, but not the quality of implementation among the 3 schools. Discussion was focused on factors that could shape the adoption and implementation of SEL programs, especially the role of the difference in school systems between Hong Kong and the United States.postprintThe 3rd European Network for Social and Emotional Competence in Children (ENSEC) Conference, Manchester, U.K., 29 June-3 July 2011

Meta-emotion beliefs and meta-parenting practices among Chinese parents, a Hong Kong sample

Poster Session 8: 2-087The 2011 Biennial Meeting for the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Montreal, QC., 31 March-2 April 2011

Promoting social-emotional learning in Chinese schools: a feasibility study of PATHS implementation in Hong Kong

This paper describes a pilot study of a reduced version of the PATHS Curriculum, a US-developed evidence-based SEL program, among schools in Hong Kong SAR (China). Three hundred and sixteen 12th grade students in three elementary schools participated in the study. A limited number of first grade PATHS lessons were adapted and translated into Chinese. Twelve teachers learned and adopted these lessons in their teaching. Students in these classrooms learned about different emotions and practiced self-control. The intervention lasted four months. After the intervention, students showed improvement in emotion understanding, emotion regulation and prosocial behavior. No change was observed in the level of children’s problem behaviors. Over 65% of the teachers reported a high degree of satisfaction and willingness to adopt the intervention. The effects of the intervention varied among schools, with variations in the level of intervention and principal support, but not in the quality of implementation. Discussion is focused on the factors that could shape the adoption and implementation of SEL programs, especially the role of the difference in school systems between Hong Kong and the United States.link_to_OA_fulltex

Implementing an Emotion Coaching Parenting Program in Hong Kong, China: some preliminary findings

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