Bullying and mental health amongst Australian children and young people with cystic fibrosis.

Abstract

Currently, there is little research investigating how schools can support the mental health and social development of young people with cystic fibrosis (CF), given their heightened risk of mental illness. Few studies have examined the relationship between bullying and mental health in populations of children with CF. This study describes the peer bullying experiences of young people with CF, and examines associations between school bullying and the psychological well-being of these young people. A sequential mixed-methods approach was used to collect data from 26 young people with CF (10-16 years of age). These data were compared with large samples of healthy children. Following an online survey, 11 young people, through online focus groups, expanded on the survey findings, describing their experiences within the school environment. Young people with CF reported lower involvement in bullying victimization and perpetration relative to the comparison population. For older adolescents with CF, victimization was associated with less connectedness to school and less peer support, and more school loneliness, anxiety, and depression. Young people with CF reported they generally liked the school environment, and were happy with their friendships, whereas some older adolescents reported that bullying evoked anxiety and mood problems. Reported bullying was primarily verbal and targeted characteristics of their CF, including their coughing, noninvolvement in certain activities because of shortness of breath, use of medication, and being underweight (for boys only). The findings provide some recommendations for interventions to promote mental health and school engagement among young people with CF. (PsycINFO Database Record

Sense of School Belonging and Paediatric Illness: A Scoping Review

“…The articles included in the review were published in various fields such as psychology, psychiatry, nursing, education, and computer sciences and were conducted in different countries: Australia ( N = 5; Branch-Smith et al, 2018 ; Ellis et al, 2013 ; Hopkins et al, 2014 ; Maor & Mitchem, 2020 ; Vetere et al, 2012 ); Belgium ( N = 3; Lombaert et al, 2006 ; Zhu & Van Vinkel, 2015 , 2016 ); Canada ( N = 1, Weiss et al, 2001 ); and Denmark ( N = 1, Weibel et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Some studies preferred online modalities because of the children’s medical condition (20%). Concerning the articles that used mixed methods, only 42% ( Branch-Smith et al, 2018 ), 14% of the total participants ( Zhu & Van Vinkel, 2015 ), participated in the qualitative part, because it was considered more emotionally engaging, according to the authors’ hypotheses.…”

“…SoSB as a psychological need for pupils with a medical condition ( Branch-Smith et al, 2018 ; Lombaert et al, 2006 ; Zhu & Van Vinkel, 2015 ).…”

Experiences in bullying and/or peer victimization of vulnerable, marginalized, and oppressed children and adolescents: An introduction to the special issue.

“…In the article entitled “Bullying and Mental Health Among Australian Children and Young People With Cystic Fibrosis,” Branch-Smith et al (2018) explored the experiences of bullying and peer victimization of youth with cystic fibrosis (CF) attending schools in Western Australia and how they correlated with psychological well-being using a sequential mixed-methods approach. Their findings suggest that bullying and peer victimization increase with age among adolescents with CF.…”

Factors associated with pediatric genetic counselors' practices related to bullying screening

“…Associations between genetic disorders and bullying have also been mentioned in studies regarding specific genetic disorders. Bullying was discussed in the histories of children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (Crawford et al, 2015 ; Hummelvoll & Antonsen, 2013 ), craniofacial microsomia (Hamilton et al, 2018 ), Williams syndrome (Fisher et al, 2017 ), Klinefelter syndrome (Turriff et al, 2017 ), cystic fibrosis (Branch‐Smith et al, 2018 ) and Marfan syndrome (Warnink‐Kavelaars et al, 2019 ). When taken together, these papers illustrate that children with genetic disorders are a population at increased risk for bullying.…”