Table 2.

Samples of adaptation.

	Example (before adaptation)	Issue	Adaptation decision	Example (after adaptation)
Language	“And a warm welcome to Session 1. It’s great to see you back here, ready for this next step.”	Comprehensibility: the expression was redundant	combined the expression and make it less redundant and clearer.	“We welcome you to come back to Session 1, and we can prepare for next step now.”
	“special day”	Comprehensibility: The expression was hard to understand in the context	used local idiom/phrase	“big day”
	“leave my worries in the car”			“throw it behind the brain”
	“Well done!”	Acceptability: the encouragement messages appeared very often but Chinese usually refrain from expressing compliments verbally	changed word into image	Figure 3
	“my dear” (“Habibti” in Arabic version)	Acceptability: “My dear” is not a common Chinese expression, and Chinese young adults seldom use “my dear” to their close friend or their important one.	change it to character’s name for the local Chinese young adults and nonlocal young men.	character’s name
People	medical doctor or psychiatrist as the senior character profession	Acceptability: people who see a medical doctor or psychiatrist must have severe problems and need hospitalization or they believed that they could seek a more suitable professional to cope with their problems	the appearance of senior character did not imply medical doctor or psychiatrist	a cartoon character for male and a young female in causal wear
	human figure as senior characters in male version	Acceptability: reminded the participants’ unpleasant experience with their mother or authorities in school whereas the cartoon figure was more approachable and comfortable to accompany with	did not use human figure as senior leading character in male	a cartoon character
	kind mother character, middle-aged female professional, and a cartoon	Acceptability: They seldom seek help and share their experience with someone not at their age. They tended to seek help from their female peer or senior students (Shijie) they feel close to and they believed that female senior students had similar experience with other college students and had experienced more in life so that they could understand students’ troubles and concerns.	applied a young female figure as senior leading character in female version	a young female as senior leading character (Figure 3)
Metaphor	“help with housework”	Relevance: the story was not clearer and relevant enough to young adults’ life experience,	added metaphors suggested by FGDs	“help clean your room, it looks like a doghouse” (“doghouse” is a metaphor for an untidy room in Chinese and was commonly heard from a parent, according to the female groups.)
	“carrying the weight of the world on your shoulder”	Acceptability & comprehensibility: too abstract and too exaggerating	used plain expression, which is common in Chinese	“like a ton of invisible pressure falls on you” (無形的壓力)
	“I could have slept for a thousand years”	Acceptability & comprehensibility: too exaggerating and not used in daily conversation	changed to a plain expression contained similar meaning that reflected a person’ tiredness and depth of sleep.	“I could finally sleep well”
Content (narrative)	the scenario of falling behind in study	Relevance: dealing with a noncontributing teammate in a group project is common than academically falling behind	adjusted the scenario to free-rider issue	free-rider issue
	hire a cab to go out	Relevance: Bus is a common public transportation to young adults and going out by cab (used in Arabic version) is too well-off and not common in this population	adjusted the transportation to bus	take bus
	giving hug to friend	Relevance: not a common practice among Chinese young adults	adapted the scenario according to FGDs’ experience	gentle touch on shoulder
	spending time with family and picnic	Relevance: Picnics are not common activities in China and Macao. This is no culture of having a picnic with family among the young Chinese adults	adapted the scenario according to FGDs’ experience	ang out with friend in café or Cha Chaan Teng (a type of restaurant popular in Macau)
Content (concepts)	“headache”	Relevance: it is irrelevant to their experience	Modified the expression to fit young adults’ experience	“dizziness”
	“felt uncomfortable doing something for myself”	Comprehensibility: it is hard to understand	Modified the expression to fit young adults’ experience	“could not cheer myself up no matter what I did”
	“thoughts go really fast”	Comprehensibility: It sounds a positive reaction to FGDs and not a symptom	Modified the expression to fit young adults’ experience	“thoughts go very messy”
	“felt tired and ache across shoulders and neck”	Relevance: It is irrelevant to their experience	Modified the expression to fit young adults’ experience	“feeble limbs, stomachache and headache”