KiVa Antibullying Program (OJJDP Model Program Guide)

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Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Serving Children, Families and Communities

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KiVa Antibullying Program

Intervention:

The KiVa Antibullying Program is a school-based program delivered to all students in grades One, Four, and Seven. It was designed for national use in the Finnish comprehensive schools and the goal is to reduce school bullying and victimization. The central aims of the program are to:

Raise awareness of the role that a group plays in maintaining bullying
Increase empathy toward victims
Promote strategies to support the victim and to support children’s self-efficacy to use those strategies
Increase children’s skills in coping when they are victimized

The program is a whole-school intervention, meaning that it uses a multilayered approach to address individual-, classroom-, and school-level factors. The curriculum consists of 10 lessons that are delivered over 20 hours by classroom teachers. The students engage in discussions, group work, and role-playing exercises. They also watch short films about bullying. Each lesson is constructed around a central theme, and one rule is associated with that theme; after the lesson is delivered, the class adopts that rule as a class rule. At the end of the year, all the rules are combined into a contract, which all students then sign.

A program manual provides guidelines to the teachers on how much time should be devoted to each theme. Schools have the flexibility to decide how to organize the school year around the themes. Manuals and curricula are developmentally targeted, with versions available for grades One–Three, Four–Six, and Seven–Nine.

For primary school children, an antibullying computer game has been developed that students can play during and between the KiVa lessons. For secondary schools students, a virtual learning environment, “KiVa Street,” has been developed; on KiVa Street, students can access information about bullying from a “library,” or they can go to the “movie theater” to watch short films about bullying.

The program actively engages the school and parents. For recess, special vests are given to the playground helpers to enhance their visibility and remind students that the school takes bullying seriously. Materials are also posted around the school that promote antibullying messages. A PowerPoint presentation has been developed that schools can use to introduce the program to school staff and parents, and parents receive a guide that includes information about and advice on dealing with bullying.

In addition to prevention messages, teams are in place to deal with identified bullying cases. The three-person team meets with the classroom teacher to discuss the identified case. Then one- or two-team members meet with the victim (or victims) and the bully in a series of sessions. The manual and training provide guidance on how to conduct these discussions.

The developers of KiVa used social-cognitive theory as a framework for understanding social behavior. They also drew on research that suggests that bullying behavior stems from the pursuit of high status within a peer group and that the maintenance of bullying depends on group behavior. KiVa predicts that changes in group behaviors can reduce bullying by reducing the rewards of bullying.

Evaluation Methodology:

Study 1
Kärnä and colleagues (2011) used a randomized control trial to assess the effectiveness of the KiVa Antibullying Program in reducing school bullying and victimization in grades Four–Six. Seventy-eight Finnish schools participated in the study and were randomly assigned either to the treatment group (39 schools, 4,207 students) or the control group (39 schools, 4,030 students). The sample was evenly divided between boys and girls (50.1 percent girls), and most were most native Finns (only 2.4 percent were immigrants). Data was collected at three time points—in May 2007 (T1), December 2007/January 2008 (T2), and May 2008 (T3)—through Web-based questionnaires. Control and treatment participants did not differ statistically on criterion variables.

Primary outcomes included self-reported and peer-reported bullying and victimization. Secondary outcomes included defending victims, assisting/reinforcing bullies, antibullying attitudes, empathy toward victims, self-efficacy for defending, and student well-being. Self-reported bullying/victimization were measured using the revised Olweus’ Bully/Victim questionnaire. Secondary outcomes were measured using the Participant Role Questionnaire, the Provictim scale (for antibullying attitudes), an empathy scale (to evaluate empathy toward victims), the newly developed Self-Efficacy for Defending Scale, and items developed by the Finnish National Board of Education (for well-being at school).

Analyses were conducted using multilevel techniques to account for effects at individual, classroom, and school levels. While analyses used individual students as the primary basis, error terms were corrected to account for clustering effects of classrooms, and the results were presented in terms of the impact of being in KiVa schools or the control schools. The program design treated the entire school as the “subject,” opting for many programming features that operated on the school climate.

Evaluation Outcome:

Study 1
Data was collected at three time points—in May 2007 (T1), December 2007/January 2008 (T2), and May 2008 (T3). The study reported on the following outcomes.

Self-Reported Bullying and Victimization
At T3, Kärnä and colleagues (2011) found that students in KiVa schools experienced significantly lower levels of bullying than students in control schools. Also at T3, students in KiVa schools had significantly lower levels of self-reported victimization than students in control schools.

Peer-Reported Bullying and Victimization
There were no significant differences found in peer-reported bullying overall, but peer reports for older students in KiVa schools were lower than those for older students in control schools. Age-by-intervention interactions were significant for both T2 and T3. Also at T2 and T3, students in KiVa school reported significantly lower levels of peer-reported victimization than students in control schools.

Secondary Outcomes
At T2, KiVa schools had more antibullying attitudes and empathy, and program participants reported defending victims more, but by T3 these effects had diminished. At T3, KiVa school students assisted and reinforced the bully less than the control students did. Program participants also reported more self-efficacy for defending and greater well-being at school at T3.

Other Information:

Implementation: KiVa has developed comprehensive and detailed program manuals, consisting of a general implementation manual and three grade-specific manuals that include the curricula for grades One, Four, and Seven. The KiVa Web site also has resources for virtual training and provides access to Web-based questionnaires, the curricula, and the computer game for students: http://www.kivakoulu.fi/

References:

Kärnä, Antti, Marinus Voeten, Todd D. Little, Elisa Poskiparta, Anne Kaljonen, and Christina Salmivalli. 2011. “A Large-Scale Evaluation of the KiVa Antibullying Program: Grades 4–6.” Child Development 82(1):311–30.

Kärnä, Antti, Marinus Voeten, Elisa Poskiparta, and Christina Salmivalli. 2010. “Vulnerable Children in Varying Classroom Contexts: Bystanders’ Behaviors Moderate the Effects of Risk Factors on Victimization.” Merrill–Palmer Quarterly 56(3):261–82.

Program Specification:

Current Rating:

Promising

Expected Date of Re-Review:

Program Type:

Bullying

Classroom Curricula

Conflict Resolution / Interpersonal Skills

School/Classroom Environment

Ethnicity:

White

Gender:

Both

Age:

10 - 12

Target Settings:

Rural

Suburban

Urban

Problem Behaviors:

Aggression/Violence

Risk & Protective Factors:

Risk

Individual

Antisocial behavior and alienation / Delinquent beliefs / General delinquency involvement / Drug dealing

Early onset of aggression and/or violence

Lack of guilt and empathy

Life stressors

Poor refusal skills

Victimization and exposure to violence

Peer

Association with delinquent and/or aggressive peers

Peer rejection

School

Inadequate school climate / Poorly organized and functioning schools / Negative labeling by teachers

Negative attitude toward school / Low bonding / Low school attachment / Commitment to school

Protective

Individual

Healthy / Conventional beliefs and clear standards

High individual expectations

Perception of social support from adults and peers

Positive / Resilient temperament

Self-efficacy

Social competencies and problem solving skills

Peer

Good relationships with peers

Involvement with positive peer group activities

School

High expectations of students

High quality schools / Clear standards and rules

Opportunities for prosocial school involvement

Presence and involvement of caring, supportive adults in school

Rewards for prosocial school involvement

Additional Information:

Status:

Program is in operation at this time.

Performance Measures:

Suggested OJJDP Performance Measures for the Program Types(s):

Delinquency Prevention
Classroom Curricula
Logic Model: PDF
Performance Matrix:PDF
School Programs
Classroom Curricula
Logic Model: PDF
Performance Matrix:PDF
School Programs
School/Classroom Environment
Logic Model: PDF
Performance Matrix:PDF

Contact Information: