Testing a school-wide anti-bullying program in elementary schools

INTERVENTION: Intervention: PRIMA, a school‐wide and modular anti‐bullying program for elementary school, including six core program components (i.e., student curriculum, monitor report, e‐learning, face‐to‐face training, protocols for specific bullying situations, protocols for students involved in bullying situations). The duration of the program is different for each program component. In total, the program's duration of the universal components (i.e., student curriculum, e‐learning, face‐to‐face training) is 12 h for each school year, excluding the time needed for reading and implementing indicated measures (i.e., protocols and monitor report). Control: 'care as usual' (i.e., regular anti‐bullying activities as required by the Social Safety at School Act in the Netherlands. After stratification of schools by school size, the number of special needs students in the school, and the urbanization level of the location of the school, schools were randomly assigned to one of the two experimental arms or the control group. In the PRIMA‐L+ condition, schools received all core components of the PRIMA program, including the student curriculum. In the PRIMA‐L‐ condition, schools received all core components of the PRIMA, except for the student lessons. The control schools carried out a 'care as usual' policy. School staff members and teachers implement the program in the schools. One teacher or school nurse is appointed as coordinator for the PRIMA program. CONDITION: Prevention of bullying behavior in schools ; Not Applicable PRIMARY OUTCOME: ; Data was collected at two time points: September/October 2017 and March/April 2018; 1. Self‐reported victimization measured using the global item from the revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (OBVQ); 2. Self‐reported bullying measured by eight items based on the OBVQ; 3. Peer‐reported victimization, students were asked to nominate students who were being bullied in the past couple of months; 4. Peer‐reported bullying, students were asked to nominate students who bullied other children in the past couple of months; SECONDARY OUTCOME: Peer‐reported reinforcers, outsiders, and defenders. Based on the Participant Roles Questionnaire, three single items were used to identify students’ participant roles in bullying situations concerning the past couple of months. INCLUSION CRITERIA: 1. Schools containing more than 50 students 2. Schools that were not already using an anti‐bullying prevention program 3. Schools that were not participating in any other study in this area 4. Schools that were willing to receive additional information about the study