Be-Prox. An Effectiveness Study of Bullying Intervention in Norwegian Kindergartens. (Be-Prox)

With an overall aim to ensure a safe and sound kindergarten environment for all Norwegian children in accordance with the Kindergarten Act §§41-43, the objectives of the current project are:

To evaluate the effectiveness of Be-Prox Norway to prevent and handle negative behavior and bullying among peers in Norwegian kindergartens.

To examine implementation factors that promote and inhibit the effectiveness of Be-Prox Norway in Norwegian kindergartens.

To describe the cost-effectiveness of the Be-Prox Norway intervention in Norwegian kindergartens.

To generate knowledge on how the Be-Prox Norway intervention can be aligned and implemented in Norwegian kindergartens.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Bullying of Child
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Be-Prox

Detailed Description

January 1st, 2021, new additions to the Kindergarten Act came into force in Norway introducing the right for all children to a safe and sound kindergarten environment. According to this act, Norwegian kindergartens shall systematically work to preventing bullying and social exclusion, including adopting a zero-tolerance for violations such as exclusion, bullying, violence, discrimination, and harassment. While relatively little is known about bullying at this age, a growing body of research suggests that bullying occurs also between kindergarten peers and that experiencing bullying at early age is associated with negative consequences.

Currently there are few evidence-based interventions directly targeting bullying among kindergarten peers. Be-Prox, developed for Swiss kindergartens to prevent, uncover and handle negative behavior and bullying in kindergartens have been translated and adjusted to a Norwegian context in a previous pilot study.

The current project is a close collaboration between two Norwegian municipalities, regional centres for child and youth mental health and welfare, and research and educational institutions.

The project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the Be-Prox Norway in a cluster randomized controlled trial, including process and implementation evaluation and cost-effectiveness analyses. Hence the project complies with the current call through introducing research on tools, systems and models that promote evidence-based practices in Norwegian kindergartens in general, and to prevent negative acts and bullying between kindergarten peers in particular.

If proven effective, Be-Prox Norway can be offered to kindergartens nationwide as evidence-based practice to prevent, uncover and handle negative behavior and bullying among Norwegian kindergarten peers.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 2500
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Ingrid Kvestad, dr; Phone Number: +4799400431; Email: inkv@norceresearch.no
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Merete Aasheim, Dr.; Phone Number: +47 99 26 46 30; Email: merete.aasheim@uit.no

Study Locations

• Norway
  • Bergen, Norway, 5008
    • Recruiting
    • NORCE Norwegian Research Center
    • Contact: Ingrid Kvestad, dr; Phone Number: +4799400431; Email: inkv@norceresearch.no
  • Narvik, Norway
    • Recruiting
    • Narvik municipality
    • Contact: Gro Hoseth, MA; Email: gro.hoseth@narvik.kommune.no
  • Os, Norway
    • Recruiting
    • Bjørnafjorden municipality
    • Contact: Irene K Foer, MA; Email: irfo@bjornafjorden.kommune.no
    • Contact: Lena E Sløgedal, MA; Email: lenslo@bjornafjorden.kommune.no
  • Tromsø, Norway
    • Recruiting
    • University of Tromsø
    • Contact: Merete Aasheim, Dr; Email: merete.aasheim@uit.no

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Children born 2018-2020 in kindergartens enrolled to the Be-Prox project and with parental consent to participate.
• Personnel i Norwegian kindergartens enrolled in the Be-Prox project and who consent to participate.
• Parents of children in kindergartens enrolled to the Be-prox project

Exclusion Criteria:

• children born 2021-2023
• children with no parental consent to participate

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control; Standard care
Experimental: Be-Prox intervention; Training in the 6 Be-Prox module	Behavioral: Be-Prox; Be-Prox is an intervention developed to prevent, uncover and handle negative behavior in kindergartens.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in number of children exposing other children to negative behavior	Using a scale on physical, verbal, relational and object-related negative acts, For the primary outcome, the scales will be used as a sum-score where "exposing others" is defined as exposing others to one of the negative acts "more than once a week".	Pre- to post-intervention, 9 months
Change in number of children exposed by other children to negative behavior	Using a scale on physical, verbal, relational and object-related negative acts, For the primary outcome, the scales will be used as a sum-score "being exposed" is defined as being exposing by others to one of the negative acts "more than once a week".	Pre- to post-intervention, 9 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in number of children exposing other children to negative behavior 1 and 2 years after the intervention	Using a scale on physical, verbal, relational and object-related negative acts, For the primary outcome, the scales will be used as a sum-score where "exposing others" is defined as exposing others to one of the negative acts "more than once a week".	1 and 2 year post intervention
Change in number of children exposed by other children to negative behavior 1 and 2 years after the intervention	Using a scale on physical, verbal, relational and object-related negative acts, For the primary outcome, the scales will be used as a sum-score "being exposed" is defined as being exposing by others to one of the negative acts "more than once a week".	1 and 2 year post intervention
Change in child prosocial bystander behavior	12 item questionnaire, Alsaker 2004	Pre- to post-intervention, 9 months and 1 and 2 years post intervention
Change in Authoritative climate	10 item scale, adjusted from Ertesvåg, 2011	Pre- to post-intervention, 12 months and then 1 and 2 years following
Change in personnel self-efficacy beliefs	5 item scale, adjusted from Fischer, 2019	Pre- to post-intervention, 12 months and then 1 and 2 years following
Change in personnel understanding of bullying among children in kindergartens	8 items questionnaire	Pre- to post-intervention, 12 months and then 1 and 2 years following

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS
• Collaborators: University of Tromso; Bjørnafjorden municipality; Narvik municipality
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Ingrid Kvestad, Dr, NORCE Norwegian Research Center

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 7, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 15, 2024
• Study Completion (Estimated): September 15, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 2, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 13, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): September 15, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): September 15, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 13, 2023
• Last Verified: September 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Randomized controlled trial; Norway; Early Childhood and Educational Care; Bullying intervention
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Aggression; Bullying
• Other Study ID Numbers: 105246

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No