There is variation in how teachers and schools implement bullying
prevention programs. Although this variation has been discussed,
there has been little empirical research concerning the relationship
between implementation fidelity and program outcomes. This thesis
contains three studies, each of them in the context of implementing the
KiVa antibullying program, and examines teachers’ actions in preventing
and intervening in school bullying. The first aim of this thesis is to
examine implementation degree of the KiVa curriculum and its’
association with reductions in victimization and bullying perpetration
(Study I). The second aim is to clarify why teachers displayed
different degrees of adherence to the KiVa curriculum during a school
year (Study II). Thirdly, it is investigated whether recognizing
victimization can be difficult for school staff (Study III). In
addition to these peer-reviewed studies, the thesis includes a
qualitative analysis (unpublished) of the teachers’ open answers
concerning their implementation experiences. The data were
collected from elementary school teachers (Studies I–II; the
unpublished study), elementary school students (Study I), and
students on the elementary and middle school levels (Study III)
during the evaluation of the effectiveness of KiVa
antibullying program between 2007 and 2009.



The findings demonstrate that a larger reduction in
victimization can be achieved in classrooms where teachers display
higher levels of adherence to the KiVa curriculum and invest more
time for preparing the lessons. Bullying perpetration, however,
was not equally affected by the level of curriculum
implementation. With respect to the implementation process over
one year, there was significant variation between individual
teachers’ activity—ranging from systematic and high implementation to
declining delivery from lesson to lesson. The sustained actions
(high and moderate levels of implementation) were premised on
principal support for antibullying work. Lesson preparation was
associated with keeping implementation high throughout the school year.
The findings also implied that the belief in the effectiveness of the
program is important for a higher implementation degree at starting
point of the process. Finally, there are severe flaws in teachers’
ability to identify students who are victimized. As it turns out,
it is possible that only one-fourth of chronically victimized
students are helped by the school staff. Especially when the victims are
middle-school-aged girls, when they bully others themselves, or when
they do not tell adults about bullying, reaching out for them is
difficult.



Implementation and dissemination of research-based
interventions will take a good deal of time and effort.
The findings demonstrate that active implementation is important
for improving program outcomes. They also show how implementation
can be sustained—there are both individual and interpersonal
factors that facilitate or inhibit high-quality implementation. Thus,
implications for future research regarding the implementation of
school-based programs are suggested.