Speaker
Description
This study aims to explore the experiences of cyberbullying among primary school-aged pupils diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC). The population of children and young people with a diagnosis of ASC is increasing (Brown et al, 2024): a recent systematic review on the global prevalence of autism estimates that approximately one in 100 children are identified as autistic and is significantly higher in certain countries such as Northern Ireland with one in 20 children (Lynam et al, 2024). Research indicates that these children are more likely to be cyber victimised than their atypical peers (Hellstrom & Lundberg, 2019) with approximately 73.9% reporting cyber victimisation and 17.4% reporting cyber perpetration (Holfeld et al, 2019). Quantitative studies have established cyberbullying as a risk for all children particularly those with special educational needs (Beer et al, 2017).
However, there is paucity of qualitative literature on cyberbullying among young children with ASC (Beckman et al, 2020) and furthermore, exploring potentially changes over a period of time (Casper et al, 2017). Hearing the voices of children with ASC may capture its unique contextual determinants and consequently help to develop suitable interventions (MacMillan et al, 2022) and design reliable measurement methods for this group (Helstrom & Lunberg, 2019). Eight participants attending mainstream primary schools with ASC will be recruited. Semi-structured interviews will be used to explore their experiences of cyberbullying at two time points during one academic year. Data will use longitudinal interpretative phenomenological analysis (McCoy, 2017; Smith et al, 2012).
Keywords
Cyberbullying
autism spectrum condition
primary school pupils
longitudinal qualitative research design
| Please indicate what type of scientific contribution it is | Qualitative method study |
|---|---|
| Please also indicate what kind of contribution it is: | Scientific |
