T.H.S. in Hong Kong.2. Methods2.1. Participants and ProceduresFrom 2005 to 2009, the total number of schools that http://www.selleckchem.com/products/wortmannin.html participated in the Project P.A.T.H.S. was 244, with 669 schools across all grades. Among them, 46.27% of the respondent schools adopted the full program (i.e., 20-hour program involving 40 units), whereas 53.73% of the respondent schools adopted the core program (i.e., 10-hour program involving 20 units).Instructor focus groups were conducted for the secondary 1 level in the 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 school years, for the secondary 2 level in the 2007/08 school year, and for the secondary 3 level in the 2007/08 and 2008/09 school years. A total of 36 schools were randomly selected in the study of focus group evaluation (14 schools for secondary 1, 9 for secondary 2, and 13 for secondary 3).

Among them, 28 schools joined the full program and eight schools joined the core program. Thirty six focus groups consisting of 138 teachers and 39 social workers in total were conducted. The average number of classes per school was 4.83 (range: 3�C6), and the average number of respondents per school was 5.11 (range: 1�C14). The characteristics of the schools joining this process evaluation study can be seen in Table 1.Table 1Description of data characteristics from 2005�C2009.As data collection and analyses in qualitative research are very labor intensive, it is the usual practice that small samples are used. In the present context, the number of focus groups and instructor participants can be regarded as respectable.

In addition, the strategy of randomly selecting informants and schools that joined the Tier 1 Program can help to enhance the generalizability of the findings. An interview guide (Table 2) was used for conducting focus group interviews with instructors. The interview questions were designed with reference to the CIPP (context, input, process, product) model and previous research [25, 26].Table 2Interview guide for the instructor focus group.A total of 36 focus groups designed to elicit implementers’ perceptions of the Project P.A.T.H.S. were conducted. All focus group interviews were jointly conducted by two trained colleagues. During the interviews, the respondents were encouraged to verbalize their views and perceptions of the program. In the interviews, the interviewers adopted the role of facilitators and were conscious of being open to accommodate both positive and negative experiences expressed by the informants.

As the interviewers either had training in social group work and/or substantial group work experience, they were conscious of the importance of encouraging the informants to express views of a different nature, including both positive and negative views. The interviews were audio recorded, with the respondents’ Carfilzomib consent.