KiVa anti-bullying program
Summary
Introduction
School bullying is common issue among children and adolescents, both in Finland and elsewhere around the world. Bullying is a group phenomenon characterised by the intentional causing of harm or distress targeted at a specific pupil (Sainio et al., 2018; Salmivalli et al., 2018a, 2018b). Bullying can be verbal, non-verbal or physical, and it can take place face-to-face or online. The KiVa Anti-bullying Program is an intervention aimed at preventing and addressing school bullying. It is intended to be used with the 7–16 age group in a school setting. School staff can be trained in the use of the KiVa Anti-bullying Program regardless of their educational background, and it provides concrete means to prevent bullying and address it in everyday school life. Schools that implement the programme hold regular KiVa lessons and establish a KiVa team that employs the method and resolves bullying incidents in the school. The KiVa Anti-bullying Program includes a teacher’s manual that illustrates the content of the lessons, as well as diverse materials for participating students. The student materials include group exercises and a digital learning environment, for example.
Objective and research question
This systematic literature review assesses the effectiveness of the KiVa Anti-bullying Program on the basis of research literature. The review answers the following questions: In how much detail is the KiVa Anti-bullying Program described? Does the KiVa Anti-bullying Program used in Finland have evidence-based effectiveness in preventing school bullying and reducing bullying?
Data and methods
A systematic literature search was carried out using the PCC search strategy (Population, Concept, Context), which focused on the question: What research has been done on the KiVa Anti-bullying Program? The following keywords were used: P = children of primary school age, children of lower secondary school age, teachers, parents; C =# KiVa Anti-bullying Program. Context (C) was omitted to avoid an excessive restriction of the results of the search. The primary area of interest in the search was effectiveness studies carried out on the intervention. A systematic literature search was carried out for the following six reference databases: MEDLINE, APA PsycInfo, CINAHL, ERIC, Web of Science and Scopus. In addition, a search for publications in Finnish was performed on the Finna.fi service, and the search was supplemented by a manual search. The accuracy of the method description in the manuals and other written materials maintained by the home base was evaluated.
Results
The developers of the intervention have described the KiVa Anti-bullying Program well. There is extensive material available on the KiVa Anti-bullying Program, support is available after training, if necessary, and the objectives have been clearly defined. Training for the programme and its use have been documented in sufficient detail. The theoretical background of the programme and the costs involved with its implementation have been described at a fairly general level. Compared to conventional anti-bullying activities in schools, the KiVa Anti-bullying Program has been found to have the targeted positive impacts in terms of reducing bullying in the 7–16 age group, as reported by pupils themselves and by peers. Evidence of the programme’s effectiveness has been reported in both Finnish and foreign studies. The studies provided strong evidence of effectiveness, and bullying decreased systematically, particularly regarding self-reported victimisation (OR = 1.15-1.93; 95% CI 1.04-2.38; d = 0.14-0.38), whereas there was slightly more variation across studies regarding the statistical significance of the results for self-reported perpetration (OR = 1.34-1.69; 95% CI = 1.07-2.48. The effectiveness of the programme was strongest for younger schoolchildren, whereas for older students, the evidence was mixed. The KiVa Anti-bullying Program was reported to have favourable impacts on underlying phenomena related to bullying, such as bullying-related attitudes and empathy for victims of bullying.
Methodology evaluation
The KiVa Anti-bullying Program is a well-described intervention that has a theoretical foundation and plenty of research on its effectiveness. There is evidence of the effectiveness of the programme in reducing bullying in the 7–16 age group, in terms of both victimisation and perpetration, when compared to conventional anti-bullying activities in schools. The effectiveness studies selected for the review were carried out in Finland and Europe in the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s.