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Initial evaluation of the implementation of the KiVa anti-bullying program in the Czech Republic

Adam Klocek, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague; Schola Empirica, Prague; Monika Kotrbová, Schola Empirica, Prague; Marek Pour, Schola Empirica, Prague; Czech Academy of Science; Egle Havrdová, Schola Empirica, Prague; Lenka Kollerová, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

This is the first study that aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the KiVa antibullying program (Kärnä et al., 2011) in the Czech Republic. The program contains both universal actions (lessons, posters, wearable symbols, etc.) and indicated actions (KiVa team solving bullying incidents) with the goal to reduce (cyber-) bullying and (cyber-) victimization prevalence at school. KiVa is a structured whole-school program that gives agency to the school staff and activates peer-bystanders to defend victims. The present study conducted an initial evaluation of the program in the Czech Republic. It used a two-arm clustered randomized control trial with the KiVa intervention group (12 schools, N 401 students) and a wait-list control group (12 schools, N 410 students). Schools were randomized based on the pre-assessed baseline level of bullying and victimization. The data were collected at two time points during a single school year (September 2021 and June 2022) from students attending fourth (Mage 9.3+.5 years) and sixth school grades (Mage 11.3+.5 years). Outcomes were self-reported bullying and victimization and attitudes against bullying. At the second time point, 72% of students in the intervention arm reported that they want the KiVa program next year, as compared to 56% of students in the control arm (i.e. no program or only an antibullying program anchored in minimum prevention against bullying legal requirements). Further preliminary analyses using nonlinear general additive models showed that KiVa was effective in increasing attitudes against bullying. However, the differences in bullying and victimization between the control and intervention groups were not significant. These initial findings suggest that the program helped students to develop appropriate attitudes towards bullying situations, but these attitudes were not transferred to behavior yet, after only a single academic year of intervention. Implications for further research are discussed.

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