School-Wide Positive Behavior Support–Norway: Impacts on Problem Behavior and Classroom Climate

Abstract

Results from the first study of the three-level School-Wide Positive Behavior Support model in Europe (SWPBS, called N-PALS) are presented. Using a strengthened nonrandomized design, data was collected from more than 1,200 teachers and 7,640 students at four measure points over four school years in 28 Norwegian intervention schools and 20 controls. Multilevel analyses revealed significant positive main and differential intervention effects on student problem behavior and classroom learning climate. Moreover, the number of segregated students decreased in the intervention group, while it increased in the control group. Implementation quality moderated the outcomes. Study results, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Keywords::

• Positive behavior intervention support
• program evaluation
• prevention
• behavior problems
• inclusion
• implementation quality
• multilevel analysis

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge Professor Torbjørn Torsheim for his invaluable support with the analyses. We are thankful for all the support from our research assistant, Asgeir Røyrhus Olseth. We also acknowledge the positive support from the intervention adapters, Anne Arnesen and Wilhelm Meek-Hansen. None of them have been involved in the research.

Funding

This research was supported by the Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Research and in part by a grant from the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mari-Anne Sørlie

Mari-Anne Sørlie, Cand.Paed.Spec., has a background in special education and is a senior researcher at the Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development in Oslo, Norway. Her primary research interests are in evaluation of school-based interventions, and in the development of behavior problems and social competence in children and youth. She is the author of several research articles and has contributed to pedagogical books and reports, written both in Norwegian and English.

Terje Ogden

Terje Ogden, PhD, holds the position as Research Director at the Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development and is also Professor at the Institute of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway. Research interests include clinical trials and implementation of empirically supported interventions (ESI) targeting antisocial children and youth, and the longitudinal development of social competence and externalizing problem behavior in early childhood. Ogden has published several articles on interventions like Multisystemic Therapy, Parent Management Training–Oregon Model, and Early Interventions for Children at Risk (the TIBIR project). Publications also include articles on moderators and mediators of interventions, and the large-scale implementation of ESIs. Ogden has recently authored the book Adolescent Mental Health, Interventions and Prevention together with K. Amlund-Hagen (Routledge, 2013). See also www.ogden.no.