Program Description

"The Olweus Program (pronounced Ol-VAY-us) is a comprehensive approach that includes schoolwide, classroom, individual, and community components. The program is focused on long-term change that creates a safe and positive school climate. It is designed and evaluated for use in elementary, middle, junior high and high schools (K-12). The program’s goals are to reduce and prevent bullying problems among school children and to improve peer relations at school. The program has been found to reduce bullying among students, improve the social climate of classrooms, and reduce related antisocial behaviors, such as vandalism and truancy. The Olweus Program has been implemented in more than a dozen countries around the world, and in thousands of schools in the United States."

Intended Population

• Core
• Intervention
• Intensified intervention

Grade

• Elementary School
• Middle School
• High School

Intended Group Size

• Any

ELL/DLL

• Unspecified

Multisensory Applications

• Unspecified

Computer-Based Delivery

• Partial

Scripted

• Instructor Scripted

Comprehensive or Skill Specific

• Comprehensive

Placement Tests

• No

Accelerated Learning

• No

Assessment to Monitor Skills Mastery

• Unspecified

Error Correction Built In

• Unspecified

Fidelity Measures Provided by Publisher

• Unspecified

Research Summary

Several peer-reviewed research articles examining the effects of the Olweus Bullying Prevention program found positive effects on student bullying behaviors. Specifically, reductions in physical, relational, and verbal bullying behaviors, and improvements in school climate and relationships were identified. In the studies reviewed, those examining the long-term effects of the program found that the positive effects were maintained after implementation

Study Citations

Limber, S. P., Olweus, D., Wang, W., Masiello, M., & Breivik, K. (2018). Evaluation of the OLWEUS bullying prevention program: A large scale study of U.S. students in grades 3–11. Journal of School Psychology, 69, 56–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2018.04.004

Olweus, D., Limber, S. P., & Breivik, K. (2019). Addressing specific forms of bullying: A large-scale evaluation of the OLWEUS Bullying Prevention Program. International Journal of Bullying Prevention, 1(1), 70–84. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42380-019-00009-7

Olweus, D., Solberg, M. E., & Breivik, K. (2018). Long‐term school‐level effects of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP). Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 61(1), 108–116. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12486

Sullivan, T. N., Farrell, A. D., Sutherland, K. S., Behrhorst, K. L., Garthe, R. C., & Greene, A. (2021). Evaluation of the OLWEUS bullying prevention program in US urban middle schools using a multiple baseline experimental design. Prevention Science, 22(8), 1134–1146. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-021-01244-5

Evidence Base (ESSA)

• Promising

Evidence-Based Practice (EBP)

• Evidence-based practice