An Evaluation of the KiVa Anti-bullying Program in New Zealand
- PDF / 507,056 Bytes
- 13 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 5 Downloads / 162 Views
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
An Evaluation of the KiVa Anti-bullying Program in New Zealand Vanessa A. Green 1
&
Lisa Woods 2 & Daniel Wegerhoff 1 & Susan Harcourt 1 & Sarah Tannahill 1
# Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
Abstract This paper describes the introduction of the KiVa anti-bullying program in New Zealand. KiVa is a whole-school program developed in Finland that includes both indicated and universal actions for children aged 7 to 15 years. The program focuses on the group context and seeks to alter the peer group culture by motivating bystanders to take action. There is a growing body of evidence that suggests it is successful in reducing bullying and victimization in a range of countries outside its country of origin. However, its impact in countries with a particularly heterogenous population such as New Zealand is yet to be determined. This paper presents data after one year of implementation in 7 New Zealand schools. The sample included 1175 students from Years 2–6 (~ 6 to 10 years). The students completed an anonymous online survey prior to the implementation of the program and again after one year. Significant reductions were reported after KiVa implementation in self-reported rates of bullying and victimization as well as a reduction in experiences of being bullied via the internet. These reductions however varied by gender and year level in that KiVa had a more significant effect on most girls and young boys. In addition, there was a significant increase in the number of children feeling safer at school. Given the heterogeneity of the sample, these early results are promising, but the gender differences also highlight the need for further evaluations and investigations regarding the implementation of KiVa in New Zealand. Keywords Bullying . Victimization . Intervention . KiVa . Gender differences
Bullying is a phenomenon that affects individuals across the lifespan, across multiple contexts (Bradshaw et al. 2017; Craig et al. 2009; Due et al. 2005; Monks et al. 2009) and impacts at least 10–11% of school-age children throughout the world ( Ji m e rs o n e t al . 2 0 1 0 ; M e n e s i n i a n d S al m i v a l l i 2017; Salmivalli et al. 2012; Smith and Shu 2000; Smith 2014). Bullying can involve verbal or physical attacks as well as relational manipulation (e.g., social exclusion, rumor spreading) (Olweus 1993). It can also occur via the internet through the use of a range of new technologies (Monks and Smith 2006; Olweus 2013; Olweus and Limber 2017; Smith et al. 2013). To be considered an act of bullying there is a
* Vanessa A. Green [email protected] 1
Faculty of Education, Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn, P. O. Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
2
The Faculty of Science, Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn, P. O. Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
general agreement in the research literature that the perpetrator intends to harm the victim, it is repeated, and there is a power imbalance between the perpetrator and the victim, that is perpetuated and magnified give
Data Loading...
