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This study explores factors influencing the implementation fidelity of the School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) program, adapted as Inclusive Behavioral Support in Schools (IBIS) in Sweden. The objective was to investigate how classroom climate, student problem behaviors, and collective teacher efficacy relate to the program's implementation fidelity across 23 Swedish schools. A total of 653 school personnel participated, completing surveys on classroom climate, problem behaviors, and collective efficacy. The Benchmark of Quality (BoQ) was used to assess implementation fidelity after seven months. Chi-square analyses revealed no significant association between program fidelity and student problem behaviors at either the classroom or school level. Similarly, no significant relationship was found with collective teacher efficacy. Interestingly, a significant association emerged between poor classroom climate at baseline and higher implementation fidelity, suggesting that schools facing greater challenges may engage more rigorously with the program to address pressing issues. These findings underscore the complexity of implementation processes and highlight the importance of contextual factors, particularly classroom climate, in influencing the successful adoption of evidence-based interventions in educational settings. These findings provide valuable insights for educators and policymakers, emphasizing the need to consider classroom climate when implementing evidence-based interventions like SWPBIS, ultimately supporting more effective and sustainable positive behavior programs in schools.

The Determinants of Implementation Behavior Questionnaire for school settings (DIBQ-S) was administered to examine questionnaire internal structure evidence and ascertain 127 Swedish school staff's perceived barriers to and facilitators of implementing the Inclusive Behavioral Support in Schools program. Using confirmatory factor analysis, we tested a 3-factor model (capability, opportunity, motivation) corresponding to the Theoretical Domain Framework and the COM-B system. Measurement of motivation was suboptimal, but a 2-factor model exclusively retaining capability and opportunity had fair fit. The questionnaire showed overall fair internal structure evidence. Facilitators related primarily to motivation, whereas potential barriers related to capability, opportunity, and motivation. Teachers working in early school years perceived higher opportunity and capability than teachers working in later school years. School staff in the implementation team perceived higher opportunity than other school staff. The DIBQ-S could support school implementations by ensuring that the process feels coherent, manageable, and meaningful for frontline implementers.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS) intervention in an alternative educational setting for students with behavioural problems. The effect of the CPS intervention on students' off-task behaviour was studied using a single-subject experimental design that included two students with behavioural problems via systematic direct observations and direct behaviour ratings. The usability of the CPS intervention was investigated through questionnaires and interviews with the participating students and teacher assistant. The results revealed no significant effects of the CPS intervention on students' off-task behaviour. The students and teacher assistant viewed the CPS intervention as acceptable but the teacher assistant's ratings of the feasibility of the intervention were lower, together with the ratings of the extent to which the intervention matched the socio-political climate of the educational setting.

Background

While positive school climate is important for students’ well-being and mental health, school personnel may experience challenges in creating a nurturing school climate. School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SW-PBIS) has shown positive effects on school climate and children’s prosocial behaviors, but fewer studies have been conducted in a European context.

Aim

This project aims to investigate the effectiveness of SW-PBIS program for students’ social-emotional skills and academic achievement as well as teachers’ and students’ perceptions of classroom learning environment. Furthermore, the study intends to evaluate how school-level factors mediate or moderate the effects of the intervention. In addition, the study includes a qualitative evaluation of the dynamic interaction processes that occur during program implementation in local school contexts.

Methods

Data on school- and individual-level measures are collected in intervention and control schools. With regard to challenges in retaining control groups over extended time periods, two waves of recruitment are used. In the first wave, an active control group is used and data are collected during three time points. In the second wave, a wait-list control group will be used and data will be collected during two time points during one school year. Hierarchical regression analyses will be conducted to explore the effects of SW-PBIS on the outcomes of the study. An ethno-methodological approach will be applied to provide a detailed examination of the social interactional and meaning-making practices of different school implementation teams, and the negotiation of normative expectations and rules of conduct in peer-teacher-student interactions in different classrooms.

Discussion

The study is expected to contribute to knowledge on the effects of the SW-PBIS program and how these effects may be mediated or moderated by school-level factors. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the significance of school contexts in the implementation of the SW-PBIS program constitutes the strength of the study. The challenge in the study is the extended period of implementation of SW-PBIS, which entails difficulties in retaining a control group over the required time period. Therefore, two waves of recruitment are used, encompassing different procedures of allocation to intervention or control group.

While individual and family factors behind students’ school absenteeism are well-researched, fewer studies have addressed school climate factors. This study investigated the association between school climate in Swedish schools and students’ absenteeism. A multi-informant survey of school climate was conducted in 101 schools and analysed in relation to the history of absenteeism of 2770 students attending those schools in the 7th grade at inception, with follow-up until completion of the compulsory school (9th grade). Data on absenteeism was extracted from schools’ registers. Student (but not teacher) positive ratings of school climate were associated with lower absenteeism between the age of 13 and the age of 16. The associations between student rated school climate and absenteeism appeared stronger among students with highly educated parents.

This article reports findings from a larger study aimed at identifying the perceptions of teachers across four municipalities in Sweden on continuing professional development. It focuses on beginning teachersˡ, namely those who are in their first five years of their career. This study has been undertaken amidst growing concern that current models of in-service training in Sweden are not leaving the desired impact on teacher motivation and student achievement; that the teaching profession feels disengaged, disempowered, distrusted. It has been undertaken in a context which is finding it hard to attract teachers into the profession, and one where teacher attrition is high. The responses help to shed light on what the municipalities and teacher education institutions need to focus on in order to support new teachers. Implications are drawn out for schools, municipalities and teacher education institutions as they need to come together to engage in more collaborative ventures to ensure adequate and ongoing support to new teachers.

School-wide positive behavior support (SWPBIS) is a well-evaluated school approach to promoting a positive school climate and decreasing problem behaviors. Initial implementation is one of the most critical stages of program implementation. In this qualitative study, the initial implementation of SWPBIS in Swedish schools was studied using an implementation model of behavior change as guidance for interviews and analyses. The study makes significant contributions to previous research as little is known of the implementation of SWPBIS in Swedish context. Focus-group interviews were conducted with 59 professionals on implementation teams from nine schools. Themes were extracted according to implementation team members' perceptions and descriptions of how the initial implementation was carried out. The results of this study revealed relevant themes within the three domains of Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation. Core features were found under the themes of knowledge and experience of similar evidence-based programs, process or result orientation, time, manual content, organizational prerequisites, team functioning, implementation leadership, program as a unifying factor, program aligning with staff beliefs, plausible expectations, and emotional reinforcement. Results are discussed in terms of how they can be used in continuing to develop the Swedish model of SWPBIS. Implications regarding implementation in Swedish schools are discussed, as is the applicability of the model of behavior change for studying implementation in schools.