The Impact of Schoolwide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports on Bullying and Peer Rejection

Abstract

To build on prior research documenting the impact of School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) on school climate and discipline problems to examine the extent to which it affects bullying and peer rejection during the transition into early adolescence. Design: Three-level models were fit using hierarchical linear modeling to determine the effect of SWPBIS on children's involvement in bullying. Setting: Thirty-seven Maryland public elementary schools. Participants: Data involved 12 344 children (52.9% male, 45.1% African American, 46.1% white) followed up longitudinally across 4 school years. Intervention: A randomized controlled effectiveness trial of SWPBIS. Outcome Measures: Reports from teachers on bully-related behaviors were assessed through the Teacher Observation of Classroom Adaptation-Checklist. Results: Analyses indicated that children in schools that implemented SWPBIS displayed lower rates of teacherreported bullying and peer rejection than those in schools without SWPBIS. A significant interaction also emerged between grade level of first exposure to SWPBIS and intervention status, suggesting that the effects of SWPBIS on rejection were strongest among children who were first exposed to SWPBIS at a younger age. Conclusions: The results indicated that SWPBIS has a significant effect on teachers' reports of children's involvement in bullying as victims and perpetrators. The findings were considered in light of other outcomes for students, staff, and the school environment, and they suggest that SWPBIS may help address the increasing national concerns related to school bullying by improving school climate.

Intervenções para o Fenômeno Bullying na Infância: Uma Revisão Sistemática da Literatura

“…Com relação ao objetivo dos estudos identificados nesta revisão, pode-se observar que a maioria (16) deles visava à diminuição dos índices de bullying no contexto escolar (Bauer, Lozano & Rivara, 2007;Bowllan, 2011;Caballo et al, 2011;Cross et al, 2011;Fung, 2011;Jenson, Dieterich, Brisson, Bender, & Powell, 2010;Joronen et al, 2012;Kärnä et al, 2011a;Kärnä et al, 2011b;Kim, 2006;McWilliam, 2010;Perkins, Craig, & Perkins, 2011;Salmivalli, Kärnä, & Poskiparta, 2011;Waasdorp, Bradshaw, & Leaf, 2012;Williford et al, 2012). Seis estudos tiveram ainda como objetivo testar intervenções que buscavam desenvolver alguma habilidade específica para o manejo do bullying, como, por exemplo, habilidades sociais, comportamentos antibullying, artes marciais, entre outros (Bauer et al, 2007;Cross et al, 2011;Domino, 2013;Fung, 2011;Kärnä et al, 2011a;McWilliam, 2010), sendo que alguns deles (6) também pretendiam que a intervenção interferisse em aspectos da saúde mental na infância (Domino, 2013;Fung, 2011;Kärnä et al, 2011b;Joronen et al, 2012;Tsang et al, 2011).…”

“…Por outro lado, nove intervenções apresentaram o modelo teórico que embasou a intervenção, sendo contemplados o Modelo de Processamento de Informações Sociais (Fung, 2011), o Modelo de Desenvolvimento Social (Jenson et al, 2010), o Modelo do Desenvolvimento Positivo da Juventude (Domino, 2013;Hui et al, 2011;Tsang et al, 2011), o Modelo Sócio-Ecológico (Waasdorp et al, 2012), o Modelo Teórico do Bem-Estar Escolar (Joronen et al, 2012), o Modelo Tradicional das Artes Marciais (Twemlow et al, 2008) e a Jurisprudência Terapêutica (McWilliam, 2010). O Modelo do Desenvolvimento Positivo da Juventude foi o mais contemplado, sendo mencionado por três dos estudos analisados (Domino, 2013;Hui et al, 2011;.…”

“…Em contrapartida, aproximadamente um terço (06) optou por usar estratégias de psicoeducação e enfrentamento, tanto para os alunos como para outros profissionais da escola, focando especificamente no bullying (Bauer et al, 2007;Bowllan, 2011;Kärnä et al, 2011a;Kärnä et al, 2011b;Salmivalli et al, 2011;Williford et al, 2012), enquanto a minoria (03) teve como foco outras temáticas distintas, tais como: clima escolar positivo, normas sociais escolares e fundamentos das artes marciais (Perkins et al, 2011;Twemlow et al, 2008;Waasdorp et al, 2012).…”

“…Apenas um estudo envolveu apenas os agressores (Fung, 2011) e outro apenas as vítimas (Kim, 2006). Dois deles trabalharam com a tríade vítima, agressor e testemunha (Bowllan, 2011;Williford et al, 2012) e outros dois somente com a díade vítima e agressor (Jenson et al, 2010;Waasdorp et al, 2012). Também foram identificados quatro estudos que abarcaram toda a turma de alunos na intervenção, sem diferenciação com relação ao envolvimento no bullying (Caballo et al, 2011;Domino, 2013;Joronen et al, 2012;Tsang et al, 2011).…”

Peer Bullying in Schools: A Cognitive Behavioral Intervention Program

“…Studies evaluating the efectiveness of the program have shown that children in the schools where the program was applied encountered less peer rejection and bullying compared to schools where the program was not applied [35], and that there was a decrease in problematic behavior, especially 65% decrease in physical and verbal aggression [34].…”