Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate the efficacy of After-school Program for middle school students residing in low SES regions. The program was designed to improve protective factors such as school adaptation, academic achievement, self-esteem and other related factors. The characteristics of program participants and non-participants in a middle school were compared. At the pre-treatment evaluation, participants showed significantly lower scores on protective factors compared to non-participants. The comparison of pre- and post-treatment within participants showed that all the protective factors were mildly improved except academic adaptation. Based on these findings, the limitations of the study were discussed.