Speaker
Description
Theoretical background
Youth worldwide is currently facing a mental health crisis (McGorry et al., 2024). One risk factor contributing to this poor mental health is bullying among peers (Li et al., 2024). Efforts to prevent and stop bullying and, thus, to buffer psychological distress, should be implemented in the school environment. Therefore, the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Heidelberg developed the school-based anti-bullying program Bullying&You. It uses a blended-intervention method (e.g., eLearning, class meetings, teacher trainings) addressing teachers, pupils, and their parents as a whole-school approach. The main objective is to evaluate the program’s effectiveness in reducing bullying and psychological distress.
Methods
In an RCT design, the 40 participating schools were randomly assigned to an intervention group or a waiting control group. Pupils in grades 3 and 4 (primary schools) and 5 to 9 (secondary schools) answer annual surveys on bullying and mental health over the course of two years (baseline, postline, follow-up). In addition, teachers complete short surveys (postline, follow-up) and eLearning data are assessed to monitor program implementation.
Results
Preliminary results after one year (baseline-postline) for secondary (at baseline: N=6,689; 48.75% girls; on average 12.73 years) and primary schools (at baseline: N=1,299; 48.81% girls; on average 8.86 years) will be presented. Besides the overall reduction of bullying and psychological distress, the effect of moderators (e.g. grade, program dose) are explored. Furthermore, challenges of school-based prevention work will be discussed.
Conclusions
Research-based anti-bullying programs are urgently needed. However, a systematic implementation often faces obstacles that call for larger scale actions.
Keywords
anti-bullying program, prevention, school, RCT
| Please also indicate what kind of contribution it is: | Scientific |
|---|---|
| Please indicate what type of scientific contribution it is | Quantitative method study |
