Bullying Notes Graphic

Amid growing recognition in recent years of the prevalence of bullying and the lifelong harm it can cause, a pilot intervention led by IU School of Social Work faculty James Brown, MSW, Ph.D., LCSW, and John Keesler, MSW, Ph.D., is bringing a fresh perspective by empowering students to collaborate in bullying prevention.

Focusing broadly on the theme of school safety, Drs. Brown and Keesler, along with IUSSW colleagues David Wilkerson, Ph.D., and Sheila Dennis, Ph.D., have developed an online, knowledge-based intervention grounded in a series of videos, scripted by the faculty and performed by professional youth actors. The video (referred to as a service) delivers key information about bullying—its definition, impact, and the roles individuals play in the bullying cycle. It also captures data—for example, the places and times where bullying happens most frequently, as identified by the students. In addition, depending on the role young people find themselves in, there are help-seeking options for individual youth, including links to make an appointment with a school counselor or social worker.

After pilot testing the intervention among 10th grade students in two Michigan high schools, the faculty facilitated a focus group in 2019 with 10 students from one of the schools to gain insights on the program’s effectiveness and areas for improvement.

“What makes this intervention somewhat unique is that we’re using a bottom-up approach, giving the students a voice in the process, empowering them to collaborate with us to develop the tool,” said Dr. Keesler.

The interactive videos allow students to answer questions and offer feedback and perspective from the narrator. Additionally, students are provided with immediate access to strategies and resources that promote safety.

“Depending on how students identify themselves in the bullying cycle, they are given choices about how they might choose to respond in the situation,” Dr. Brown said. “Students in the focus group stated they liked not being told what to do. In addition to valuing anonymity in reporting, the students told us there are concerns about reputation management, which could be addressed by talking to someone outside the school, perhaps by text support.”

Comprehension quizzes built into the intervention show the program is effective in increasing students’ knowledge and understanding of bullying. Feedback from the focus group, which included a desire for more information about cyberbullying and intermittent text messaging to reinforce key concepts, will be built into the next version. Drs. Brown and Keesler also are interested in making the same intervention available to parents so they can know the language and dynamics of bullying.

“You have to include the parent if you’re going to address bullying with the student,” said Dr. Brown. “Parents tend to think any student conflict is bullying, so there’s a need for the language and definitions around bullying and harassment to be explained and clarified for parents. We can do that with the online intervention and also evaluate their understanding of key concepts.”

Research and data collection from the pilot program has paused due to COVID-19, but the IUSSW faculty team is moving forward to transition the intervention to a new, more accessible platform. After the intervention is modified based on the pilot and focus group, the faculty plan to begin contacting school systems to gauge interest. The online service was developed (through an IU grant from the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship) to be customizable, allowing individual schools to gain real-time data and information about bullying to troubleshoot problem areas and inform prevention strategies.