About IMPRES

IMPRES is a part of the INVEST flagship project funded by the Academy of Finland, in which bullying prevention programs are developed and researched in order to improve child and adolescent wellbeing. Bullying is a serious problem in children’s peer relationships, and it can cast long shadows in their lives. It is therefore crucial to invest in safe learning environments and high-quality bullying prevention efforts. We in IMPRES hope that the results of our study contribute to accomplishing these goals.

IMPRES is short for Implementation Research. The purpose of this kind of a study is for example to examine how schools utilize scientific knowledge in everyday practices in different contexts and how the utilization could be improved upon. This requires researchers to investigate for example what the barriers and facilitators of bullying prevention in everyday life at school are. Often these kinds of studies are carried out in collaboration with the study subjects.

In IMPRES we focus on the use of the KiVa antibullying program, which was developed in Finland. We are interested in how schools implement the program. As a part of the study we investigate to which degree implementation support provided to schools improves their bullying prevention efforts. The study is conducted in 2022–2004 and it includes over 20 primary schools across Finland.

The study has been through ethical review and has received an ethical approval from the ethical committee of University of Turku.

All data is saved in anonymous form by using number codes instead of names. No one in the school will know the answers of a specific student or a member of staff. The schools receive information on the answers only on a general level.

For more information about the study, please contact our research group: impres(at)utu.fi.