KiVa Anti-bullying Program in Chile: Evaluation of Effectiveness With and Without the Digital Game Component (KiVa-Chile)

January 17, 2020 updated by: Jorge Gaete, Universidad de los Andes, Chile

Bullying is a major problem worldwide and, with no exception, in Chile. Bullying is defined as a systematic aggressive behavior against a victim who cannot defend himself or herself. Victims suffer many consequences such as social isolation, psychological maladjustment, and self-injury behavior. Additionally, bullies have a higher risk for conduct problems and substance use disorders. These problems appear to last in time, affecting mental health even years later since the experience of bullying.

There are few studies in Chile aiming to determine the prevalence of bullying. In one of such studies, 47% of the students reported having been bullied during the last month before the application of the questionnaire. Even though there are many initiatives and guidelines in Chile supported by the government to help schools in order to deal with bullying, there is no any cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) aiming to assess the effectiveness of an anti-bullying program.

KiVa anti-bullying prevention program contains universal and indicated actions. Main universal actions for 5 to 6 graders consist of 10 two-hours lessons given during a year and an online game, which have the aim to raise awareness of the role of the group in bullying, increase empathy and promote strategies to support victims. Indicated actions consist of a set of discussion groups with the victims and with the bullies with proper follow-up.

The aims of this study are: 1) To develop a culturally appropriate version of the Kiva material, and 2) to test its effectiveness of KiVa program with and without the online game, to reduce bullying behavior among low-income primary schools in Santiago using a cluster RCT design with three arms: i) KiVa full program group, ii) KiVa without online game program group, and iii) Control group.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

4485

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

9 years to 14 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria for schools:

  • Primary education
  • Co-educational
  • High vulnerability (measured by the Chilean index IVESINAE >75%)
  • Location: Santiago, Chile.
  • Exact two classes per level (5th Grade and 6th Grade), during the intervention.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: KiVa program full
The schools allocated in this arm will receive the Chilean adaptation of KiVa program with all its universal and indicated actions.
Other: KiVa program
KiVa program is an anti-bullying intervention developed in University of Turku, Finland. It is based on the participant role model, where bullying is seen as a group process focused on the bystanders' reactions to the bullying. This program includes universal and indicated actions. Universal actions include ten students lessons given by teachers where pupils learn the role of bystanders in the bullying process, how to increase empathy towards the victim, and safe strategies to supports victims. Indicated actions are delivered by a school team of three staff members, who handle acute cases of bullying.
Experimental: KiVa program w/o the digital component
The schools allocated in this arm will receive the Chilean adaptation of KiVa program without the digital component (online game)
Other: KiVa program
KiVa program is an anti-bullying intervention developed in University of Turku, Finland. It is based on the participant role model, where bullying is seen as a group process focused on the bystanders' reactions to the bullying. This program includes universal and indicated actions. Universal actions include ten students lessons given by teachers where pupils learn the role of bystanders in the bullying process, how to increase empathy towards the victim, and safe strategies to supports victims. Indicated actions are delivered by a school team of three staff members, who handle acute cases of bullying.
No Intervention: Control group
The schools allocated in this arm will not receive the KiVa program. If successful, these schools will receive the program the following academic year.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Self-reported victimisation
Time Frame: 12 months followup
Victimisation will be assessed using the corresponding item from the revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (OBVQ)
12 months followup

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Self-reported bullying
Time Frame: 12 months followup
Bullying actions will be assessed using the corresponding item from the revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (OBVQ)
12 months followup
Peer-reported victimisation
Time Frame: 12 months followup
Peer-reported victimisation will be assessed using the corresponding item from the revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (OBVQ)
12 months followup
Peer-reported bullying
Time Frame: 12 months followup
Peer-reported bullying will be assessed using the corresponding item from the revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (OBVQ)
12 months followup
Self-reported psychological difficulties
Time Frame: 12 months followup
The psychological difficulties will be assessed using the total subscale of difficulties of the Adolescent version of The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).
12 months followup
Self-reported psychological strengths
Time Frame: 12 months followup
The psychological strengths will be assessed using the total subscale of strengths (prosocial skills) of the Adolescent version of The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).
12 months followup

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Universidad de los Andes, Chile

Collaborators

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
University of Turku
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Jorge Gaete, MD, MSc, PhD, Universidad de Los Andes

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

May 1, 2016

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2017

Study Completion (Actual)

April 30, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 8, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 8, 2016

First Posted (Estimate)

September 13, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 21, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 17, 2020

Last Verified

January 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • AKA-EDU/15

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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