We examined the sustainability of the KiVa antibullying program in Finland from its nationwide roll-out in 2009 to 2016. Using latent class analyses, we identified four different patterns of implementation. The persistent schools (43%) maintained a high likelihood of participation throughout the study period. The awakened (14%) had a decreasing trend during the first years, but then increased the likelihood of program participation. The tail-offs (20%) decreased in the likelihood of participating after the third year, and the drop-offs (23%) already after the first year. The findings suggest that many schools need support during the initial years to launch and maintain the implementation of evidence-based programs; yet a large proportion of schools manage to sustain the program implementation for several years. The logistic regression analyses showed that large schools persisted more likely than small schools. Lower initial level of victimization was also related to the sustainability of the program. Finally, persistent program participation was predicted by several school-level actions during the initial years of implementing the program. These results imply that the sustainability of evidence-based programs could be enhanced by supporting and guiding schools when setting up the program during the initial implementation.

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Being bullied by peers at school is associated with numerous intrapersonal, interpersonal, and health problems. Depression is one of the strongest correlates of victimization and, although it may precede victimization, there is convincing evidence of victimization leading to later depression. Victimization has also been found to be related to sleeping problems, both concurrently and longitudinally. Using structural equation modeling, we tested the hypothesis that the effect of victimization on depression is partly mediated by sleeping difficulties. The mean age of the participants (N = 1717) was 16 years, and they were from 20 schools in seven towns in Southern and South-West Finland. We focused on two types of sleeping problemsinsomnia and nightmares-among students who had recently made the transition to secondary education in Finland. We controlled for the effects of sex (girls and others in relation to boys) and school type (high school/vocational school). Besides a significant direct effect of victimization on depression (β = .21, p < .001), there were significant indirect effects via both insomnia (β = .04, p = .008) and nightmares (β = .03, p = .002). The findings suggest that sleeping problems may be indicative of peer victimization, and they are one possible mechanisms via which the effects of victimization on depression unfold.

School bullying is a widely recognized and unfortunately fairly common social problem among children and adolescents. In this chapter, we introduce the school‐based KiVa antibullying program, which has been found to be effective in reducing bullying and victimization. The effectiveness of the program was first evaluated in Finland, both in a large‐scale randomized controlled trial (2007–2009) and during the nationwide rollout (since 2009). As of early 2016, 90% of Finnish schools providing basic education in Grades 1–9, with students aged 7 to 15 years, were registered program users. We begin by introducing the background and contents of the KiVa program. Next, evidence of effectiveness is presented from Finland and ongoing evaluations in other countries, and questions of program implementation are addressed. Finally, some future directions for research and program development are contemplated.

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