Clinical Practice with Children and Adolescents Involved in Bullying and Cyberbullying: Gleaning Guidelines from the Literature

Bullying and cyberbullying have received unprecedented international scholarly attention over the last three decades, including increasingly sophisticated descriptive models, measures of associated harm, and studies of whole-school intervention programs. Despite an abundance of articles related to bullying and cyberbullying, there has been relatively little attention to clinical practice with children and adolescents involved in bullying and cyberbullying. The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive review of peer-reviewed academic journal articles published between January 1990 and June 2018 pertaining to individual and group psychotherapy with clients involved in bullying and cyberbullying. Based on this review, we identify four guidelines for clinical practice related to bullying and cyberbullying with children and adolescents

Clinical Practice with Children and Adolescents Involved in Bullying and Cyberbullying: Gleaning Guidelines from the Literature

Bullying and cyberbullying have received unprecedented international scholarly attention over the last three decades, including increasingly sophisticated descriptive models, measures of associated harm, and studies of whole-school intervention programs. Despite an abundance of articles related to bullying and cyberbullying, there has been relatively little attention to clinical practice with children and adolescents involved in bullying and cyberbullying. The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive review of peer-reviewed academic journal articles published between January 1990 and June 2018 pertaining to individual and group psychotherapy with clients involved in bullying and cyberbullying. Based on this review, we identify four guidelines for clinical practice related to bullying and cyberbullying with children and adolescents

Teachers’ Understanding of Bullying

Using semi‐structured interviews, we examined teachers’ understanding of bullying of children in their classes. Although teachers’ definitions of bullying included both direct and indirect behaviours, several factors influenced how they characterized and responded to incidents. These factors included whether the teachers viewed an incident as serious or considered a victimized child responsible, whether a child matched their assumptions about victim characteristics and behaviours, and whether they described feeling empathy for a child. The nature of the school environment and organization such as availability of systemic support in addressing bullying incidents were further factors that influenced teachers’ awareness and responses. Key words: peer victimization, qualitative study on bullying, understanding bullying, response to bullying À l’aide d’entrevues semi‐structurées, les auteures ont étudié comment les enseignants perçoivent l’intimidation dans leurs classes. Bien que leurs définitions de l’intimidation comprennent à la fois les comportements directs et indirects, plusieurs facteurs influencent leur façon de caractériser les incidents et d’y réagir, notamment s’ils considèrent que l’incident est sérieux ou que la victime est responsable, si la victime correspond à leurs théories implicites sur les caractéristiques et les comportements d’une victime et s’ils ressentent de l’empathie pour la victime. Le climat de l’école et les structures offertes tel un soutien systémique pour faire face aux incidents d’intimidation faisaient également partie des facteurs ayant une incidence sur la sensibilisation et les réactions des enseignants. Mots clés: victimisation par des pairs, étude qualitative sur l’intimidation, comprendre l’intimidation, réagir à l’intimidation.

The Effects of a School-Based Program on the Reported Self-Advocacy Knowledge of Students With Learning Disabilities

A school-based study examined self-reported self-advocacy knowledge of middle school students with learning disabilities (LD). Children with LD are vulnerable to experiencing psychosocial and academic problems. Self-advocacy is a protective factor as students with LD enter middle and high school, comprising knowledge of one’s learning strengths and LD; awareness of one’s rights and responsibilities; awareness of accommodations needed; and ability to communicate one’s learning needs and required accommodations. The students reported increasing their ability to advocate for themselves. Results underscore the importance of adults such as teachers and parents discussing LD and associated issues with children and youth.Une étude en milieu scolaire a examiné les perceptions qu’avaient des élèves à l’école intermédiaire ayant des troubles d’apprentissage par rapport à leur autonomie sociale. Ces élèves sont à risque de souffrir de problèmes psychosociaux et académiques. L’autonomie sociale constitue un facteur de protection quand les élèves ayant des troubles d’apprentissage commencent l’école intermédiaire ou secondaire. Elle implique la connaissance de ses forces académiques et de ses troubles d’apprentissage; la conscience de ses droits et ses responsabilités; la conscience des accommodations nécessaires; et la capacité de faire connaître ses besoins en matière d’apprentissage et d’accommodations. Les élèves ont indiqué qu’ils se sentaient mieux en mesure de se défendre. Les résultats soulignent l’importance pour les adultes comme les enseignants et les parents de discuter de troubles d’apprentissage et d’enjeux qui s’y rattachent avec les enfants et les jeunes

Preschoolers, Parents, and Teachers (PPT): A Preventive Intervention with an At-Risk Population

The importance of early intervention with children who are at risk for mental health problems is widely recognized. Relationships with significant adults (parents, other caregivers, and teachers) are critically important in young children\u27s lives and can make a tremendous difference in the trajectory of a child\u27s future. This study utilized a waiting-control group design to examine the effects on student behavior and parent stress of play-based interventions designed to improve the relationships between parents and their children (i.e., Filial Therapy), and teachers and their students (i.e., Kinder Training). To incorporate the benefits of group work, the eight-week intervention was delivered to parents in a small-group format. Teachers participated in a one-day group training with weekly coaching and dyadic consultation for on-going support. Results at post-intervention indicated that teachers perceived children in the intervention group to exhibit significantly less problem behavior than students in the waiting-control group. Although results suggest that the intervention had no demonstrable effect on parent stress, qualitative results indicate otherwise. Implications for practice and research are discussed

Interventions for children, youth, and parents to prevent and reduce cyber abuse

The Internet has created a new communication tool, particularly for young people whose use of e-mail, websites, instant messaging, web cams, chat rooms, social networking sites and text messaging is exploding worldwide. While there are many benefits that result from electronic based communication, the Internet is, however, concurrently a potential site for abuse and victimization, whereby young people can fall victim to sexual perpetrators, stalkers, exploiters, and peers who bully online. Interventions regarding cyber abuse have been developed in response to a growing emphasis on protecting children and youth from online dangers. Objectives: To examine the effectiveness of cyber abuse interventions in increasing Internet safety knowledge and decreasing risky online behaviour

An Overview of the Evidence on Bullying Prevention and Intervention Programs

This is the final published version of an article published by Oxford University Press in the Journal of Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention. This article is published under the Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC-NC. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Bullying is a serious and pervasive problem among children and youth in countries throughout the world, with detrimental effects for children who bully and who are victims, both of whom are at risk of experiencing problems that may persist into adulthood. The aim of this article is to provide a brief overview of key points and issues regarding the current state of anti-bullying prevention and intervention programs. The utility and potential of anti-bullying initiatives continue to be highlighted despite inconsistent results. This is perhaps not surprising because the phenomenon of bullying is a complex social issue that is influenced by myriad diverse factors. [Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention 8:327–341 (2009)

Helping Canadian adults navigate their wired world

TELUS and the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto have created a guide to increase adult's knowledge of Internet use. We discuss the various ways the Internet influences how adults learn, work, are entertained, and relate to friends, family, and romantic partners. Because individuals face particular issues according to their age and social location, we provide an overview of the benefits, risks and issues as well as tips for staying safe that are customized for young adults, adults in the workforce, adults who are vulnerable and marginalized, parents, and older adults

Ongoing and Online: Children and youth's perceptions of cyber bullying

The use of online technology is exploding worldwide and is fast becoming a preferred method of interacting. While most online interactions are neutral or positive the Internet provides a new means through which children and youth are bullied. The aim of this grounded theory approach was to explore technology, virtual relationships and cyber bullying from the perspectives of students. Seven focus groups were held with 38 students between fifth and eighth grades. The participants considered cyber bullying to be a serious problem and some characterized online bullying as more serious than ‘traditional’ bullying because of the associated anonymity. Although the students depicted anonymity as integral to cyber bullying, the findings suggest that much of the cyber bullying occurred within the context of their social groups and relationships. Findings revealed five major themes: technology embraced at younger ages and becoming the dominant medium for communication; definitions and views of cyber bullying; factors unique to cyber bullying; types of cyber bullying; and telling adults. The findings highlight the complexity of the perceived anonymity provided by the Internet and how this may impact cyber bullying. The study offers greater awareness of the meanings of online relationships for children and youth