A Large-Scale Replication of the Effectiveness of the KiVa Antibullying Program: a Randomized Controlled Trial in the Netherlands

Abstract

This study evaluates the effectiveness of the KiVa antibullying program in the Netherlands through a randomized controlled trial of students in grades 3-4 (Dutch grades 5-6). The sample involved 98 schools who volunteered to participate in the research, with 245 classes and 4383 students at the baseline (49% girls; M age = 8.7 years), who participated in five measurement waves, collected in three consecutive school years. After the baseline, two-thirds of the schools were assigned to the intervention condition (KiVa or KiVa+, the latter included an additional intervention component of network feedback to teachers) and onethird to the control condition (waiting list, care as usual) with a stratified randomization procedure. The effects of the intervention on self-reported victimization and bullying were tested using cross-classified ordered multinomial models and binomial logistic regression models. These longitudinal models showed that self-reported victimization and bullying reduced more strongly in KiVa-schools compared with control schools, with stronger effects after two school years than after one school year of implementation. The results showed that for students in control schools, the odds of being a victim were 1.29-1.63 higher, and the odds of being a bully were 1.19-1.66 higher than for KiVa students. No significant differences between KiVa and KiVa+ emerged. Overall, the findings provide evidence of the effectiveness of the KiVa program in the Netherlands.

Refining victims’ self‐reports on bullying: Assessing frequency, intensity, power imbalance, and goal‐directedness

“…Second, we obtained IRB approval by the Ethics Committee from the Department of Sociology for a pilot study in four schools on the practical use and formulation of the questions, and the duration of filling in the questionnaire. After the pilot, we adjusted the questions and administered them together with measures of adjustment correlates to students in a larger sample of schools that took part in the eleventh wave of the ongoing study on the KiVa anti‐bullying program (Kärnä et al, ) in the Netherlands (Huitsing et al, under review). Schools were selected based on the criteria that they had distributed informed consent forms to parents and that they administered the bi‐annual questionnaire at about the same time.…”

Cost-benefit Analysis of the KiVa Anti-bullying Program in the Netherlands

“…The prevention involves universal actions targeted at all students, with teacher training, theme lessons, virtual learning environment for students, KiVasymbols such as recess vests and posters, and information for parents (through flyers, an online booklet, and newsletters). Intervening by means of indicated actions is aimed at ongoing bullying and targeted at students who have been identified as targets or perpetrators of bullying (see for more information: Huitsing et al 2019).…”

“…The effectiveness of KiVa was studied in a randomized controlled trial in 2012-2014 in target grades 3-4 of Dutch primary schools (Dutch grades 5-6). The research into the effectiveness of KiVa in the Netherlands showed that victimization of bullying had declined significantly more at KiVa schools than at control schools, both after 1 and 2 years of implementation (Huitsing et al 2019; see also: Kaufman et al 2018). More specifically, the number of children who were bullied monthly, weekly, or daily at KiVa schools decreased with 64% after 2 years of implementing the intervention (compared with a 53% decrease in control schools).…”

“…Empirical Input on Self-reported Victimization The empirical input of the reduction of victimization as a result of KiVa was taken from the randomized controlled trial (RCT) in the Netherlands in 2012-2014. In that study, two different estimates for victimization were used (Huitsing et al 2019). First, the global item on victimization from the Olweus' Bully-Victim Questionnaire (Olweus 1996): "how often have you been victimized at school during the past couple of months?".…”

“…We made four assumptions on the long-term benefits of implementing the KiVa program. The first assumption was that the effectiveness of KiVa in the Netherlands at Dutch primary schools studied during the RCT (Huitsing et al 2019) is representative for other Dutch schools that are using KiVa. Thus, it is assumed that comparable results will be found when KiVa is offered in future years at other Dutch primary schools that are motivated to implement an antibullying program.…”