Counteracting bullying in Finland: The KiVa program and its effects on different forms of being bullied

Abstract

In 2006, the Finnish Ministry of Education mandated our research group to develop an antibullying program for comprehensive schools. The new program, KiVa, includes both universal and indicated actions to reduce bullying. The present study reports the effects of KiVa on nine different forms of being bullied in a sample of 5,651 fourth to sixth graders from 78 schools (39 intervention, 39 control). The findings showed positive effects on each form of being bullied assessed. After 9 months of intervention, control school students were 1.32- 1.94 times as likely to be bullied as students in intervention schools. A well-designed, research-based program can thus reduce multiple forms of being bullied, and there might be no need to develop specific programs for different forms of bullying. © The Author(s) 2011.