Building bridges in the classroom: Strengthening social bonds through the SterkWerk intervention

Abstract

Prosocial behaviour is essential for creating a positive and inclusive classroom environment. Encouraging prosocial behaviour may enhance children’s social-emotional development, improve peer relationships, and counteract antisocial behaviours such as bullying. The current study researched the effectiveness of the SterkWerk intervention on prosocial behaviour and explored the possible presence of relatedness as a mediator. SterkWerk is targeted to promote prosocial behaviour in children through meaningful roles and positive peer interactions. The study sample consisted of 2,121 children from 42 primary schools, aged 7 to 13 years (M = 9.56, SD = 1.21), evenly divided between the intervention and control group. The effectiveness was measured using a longitudinal design with three measurement points, before, during, and after the intervention. The data were obtained through self-report questionnaires completed by the participants. The hierarchical regression with bootstrapping did not show a significant effect of the SterkWerk condition on prosocial behaviour compared to the control group. Furthermore, relatedness did not mediate the intervention's effect on prosocial behaviour, although a positive association was found between relatedness and prosocial behaviour. These results suggest that the SterkWerk intervention did not promote prosocial behaviour. Future research could benefit from a later follow-up measurement and the consideration of implementation fidelity.