School wide-positive behavioral interventions and supports in Europe: a scoping review

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) has expanded into European countries, especially in school settings, during the past two decades. Examining these school-wide PBIS (SW-PBIS) practices in European countries is an important research area. As far as we are aware, no systematic literature reviews have solely focused on PBIS implementations in European countries. The primary purpose of this scoping review was to provide an overview of the existing literature on the expansion and implementation of SW-PBIS in Europe based on published studies that meets the inclusion criteria. We aimed to answer the following research question: What studies and knowledge exist on the implementation of SW-PBIS in Europe? We focused on the historical trajectory and adoption of SW-PBIS across European countries. We also examined the cultural adaptations of SW-PBIS. Furthermore, we systematically investigated characteristic of the published studies. Lastly, we synthesized the outcomes and identified the funding sources. We searched for relevant articles in three electronic databases: ERIC, Scopus, and Web of Science. We identified 30 articles across 12 countries. The results indicated that the initial studies on SW-PBIS began in the Nordic countries. Moreover, the results revealed that Nordic countries and the Netherlands have made significant progress in implementing SW-PBIS, whereas other European countries are still in the initial phases of implementation. Findings on SW-PBIS in Europe was derived from studies that were retrieved from certain database and inclusion criteria. Despite