The Effectiveness of an Anti-bullying Intervention for Elementary School Students

Kids On the Block (KOB) is a program designed to increase knowledge and improve attitudes toward students with disabilities in schools. Research has not yet examined KOB\u27s effects on students with regard to bullying. The present study examined the program\u27s effectiveness at increasing knowledge and prosocial attitudes toward bullying by examining trends in student knowledge and attitudes prior to and after viewing the intervention. Social Cognitive Theory was used to provide a theoretical framework for approaching this question. Fourth and fifth grade students completed measures of bullying knowledge, explicit attitudes toward bullying, and implicit attitudes toward bullying. The measures were administered at three time points using an interrupted time-series design with the intervention introduced after the first time point for one group of participants. Another group acted as a waitlisted control group and did not view the intervention until later. After viewing the show, students in the experimental group demonstrated small but statistically significant increases in knowledge as well as explicit prosocial attitudes toward bullying after viewing the show compared to prior to the show. At this time it is unclear whether these small observed changes are practically significant enough to warrant implementation of the program