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Active, Not Recruiting

NCT Number: NCT06040437

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

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.

Active, Not Recruiting

This study is active but is not currently recruiting participants.

Key information

Conditions

Bullying of Child

Age range

3 year–6 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

NORCE Norwegian Research Center, Bergen, Norway

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About this study

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.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

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

Treatment and study plan

Be-Prox

Behavioral

Be-Prox is an intervention developed to prevent, uncover and handle negative behavior in kindergartens.

Primary outcomes

  1. Total number of negative acts children have been exposed to by peers the last months post intervention.

    Time frame: Scorers are asked to use "the last 4 weeks" as the time frame for their registration of the negative acts

    Using a set of questions on physical, verbal, relational and object-related negative acts, primary outcome will be the total number of negative acts the child has been exposed to overall. The range for the specific negative acts is 0-5, the range for negative acts overall is 0-20.

  2. Total number of negative acts children have exposed peers to the last month post intervention.

    Time frame: Scorers are asked to use "the last 4 weeks" as the time frame for their registration of the negative acts

    Using a set of questions on physical, verbal, relational and object-related negative acts, primary outcome will be the total number of negative acts the child has exposed peers to overall. The range for the specific negative acts is 0-5, the range for negative acts overall is 0-20.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Change in number of children being exposed to negative acts overall "2-3 times a months" or more post intervention

    Time frame: Scorers are asked to use "the last 4 weeks" as the time frame for their registration of the negative acts

    Using a set of questions on physical, verbal, relational and object-related negative acts, the secondary outcome will be a binary outcome on 0) not been exposed to negative acts 2-3 months or more and 1) being exposed to negative acts 2-3 times a month or more.

  2. Change in number of children exposing other children to negative acts overall "2-3 times a month" or more.

    Time frame: Scorers are asked to use "the last 4 weeks" as the time frame for their registration of the negative acts

    Using a set of questions on physical, verbal, relational and object-related negative acts, the secondary outcome will be a binary outcome on 0) not been exposed to negative acts 2-3 months or more and 1) being exposed to negative acts 2-3 times a month or more.

  3. Child prosocial bystander behavior post intervention

    Time frame: Scorers are asked to use "the last 4 weeks" as the time frame for their registration of the negative acts

    12 item questionnaire, Alsaker 2004

  4. Change in Authoritative climate, post intervention

    Time frame: The last month post Scorers are asked to use "the 4 weeks" as the time frame for their registration of the negative acts, 1 and 2 years after post intervention

    10 item scale, adjusted from Ertesvåg, 2011

  5. Change in personnel self-efficacy beliefs, post intervention

    Time frame: Scorers are asked to use "the last 4 weeks" as the time frame for their registration of the negative acts

    5 item scale, adjusted from Fischer, 2019

  6. Change in personnel understanding of bullying among children in kindergartens

    Time frame: Scorers are asked to use "the last 4 weeks" as the time frame for their registration of the negative acts

    8 items questionnaire

  7. Specific negative acts the child has been exposed to the last month

    Time frame: Scorers are asked to use "the last 4 weeks" as the time frame for their registration of the negative acts

    Using the set of questions on specific negative acts; physical, verbal, relational and object-related

  8. Specific negative acts the child has exposed peers to the last month

    Time frame: Scorers are asked to use "the last 4 weeks" as the time frame for their registration of the negative acts

    Using the set of questions on specific negative acts; physical, verbal, relational and object-related

  9. Total number of negative acts children have been exposed to by peers the last

    Time frame: Scorers are asked to use "the last 4 weeks" as the time frame for their registration of the negative acts

    Using a set of questions on physical, verbal, relational and object-related negative acts, primary outcome will be the total number of negative acts the child has been exposed to overall. The range for the specific negative acts is 0-5, the range for negative acts overall is 0-20.

  10. Total number of negative acts children have exposed peers to the last month post

    Time frame: Scorers are asked to use "the last 4 weeks" as the time frame for their registration of the negative acts

    Using a set of questions on physical, verbal, relational and object-related negative acts, primary outcome will be the total number of negative acts the child has exposed peers to overall. The range for the specific negative acts is 0-5, the range for negative acts overall is 0-20.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS

Other

Collaborators

  • Bjørnafjorden municipality
  • Narvik municipality
  • University of Tromso

Registry information

Acronym: Be-Prox

Important dates

Study start
2023
Primary completion
2024
Study completion
2026
First posted
Sep 15, 2023
Registry last updated
Dec 9, 2024

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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