School-Based Intervention on Cyberbullying-Related Outcomes and Psycho-Social Well-Being in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Yu Shi, Ying Lau, Ho Hin Henry Chan et al.
✦ AI-curated · Sources linked
In 30 seconds
This systematic review and meta-analysis assessed school-based interventions for cyberbullying-related outcomes and psychosocial well-being in children and adolescents. It included 44 randomized controlled trials with 65,707 participants from 15 countries. Immediately after intervention, pooled effects showed reductions in perpetration (g = -.15, p < .001) and victimization (g = -.11, p = .007), alongside increased knowledge (g = .15, p = .013). At follow-up of ≤ 6 months, victimization was also reduced (g = -.20, p = .007). No significant effects were found for psychosocial well-being or several other outcomes.
Key findings
- Postintervention cyberbullying perpetration decreased (g = -.15, p < .001) and victimization decreased (g = -.11, p = .007).
- Cyberbullying knowledge increased after intervention (g = .15, p = .013).
- At follow-up of ≤ 6 months, cyberbullying victimization was reduced (g = -.20, p = .007).
- Interventions had no significant impact on bystanders, attitudes, awareness, or psychosocial well-being.
Why it matters
The pooled findings suggest that school-based programmes can produce modest improvements in some cyberbullying outcomes, including reductions in perpetration and victimization. However, effects were not evident across all measured outcomes, and psychosocial well-being did not significantly improve. The review therefore helps distinguish outcomes with evidence of benefit from those for which effectiveness remains uncertain.
What to keep in mind
The authors rated the certainty of evidence as low or very low and called for robust trials with long-term follow-up.