Suggesting self-compassion training in schools to stop cyberbullying: a narrative review

Abstract

Cyberbullying is a major public health problem among adolescents worldwide. Research shows that there is a link between cyberbullying and mental health problems. Adolescent victims of cyberbullying suffer from diverse negative effects such as stress, anxiety, depression, poor self-esteem, isolation, and suicidal ideation. Schools have attempted to address this by introducing measures, including raising awareness of cyberbullying among adolescents, launching Internet safety campaigns, and enacting regulations to stop cyberbullying. However, salient effects have not been reported to date. Research reports that self-compassion training is effective in reducing mental health problems and beneficial for adolescents. This narrative review aims to review the literature on cyberbullying in adolescence and propose effective measures to stop it. Self-compassion training is proposed as an effective intervention to stop cyberbullying among adolescents. This review further discusses how schools can implement self-compassion training to stop cyberbullying in adolescents. Findings will help policymakers and stakeholders of schools, colleges, and universities to incorporate self-compassion training into school curricula to help support victims of cyberbullying.

The Role of the Media and Self-Compassion in Enhancing Mental Health and Preventing Suicide among Nigerian Youth: A Literature Review

“…Mass media and social media play important roles in enhancing health literacy [80], health education, and health promotion [81]. Self-compassion training interventions [82] can be delivered as integrative positive psychological interventions (PPIs) [83,84] and can be provided as psychoeducational programmes [85,86]. This can offer accessible and affordable mental health first-aid to protect those who are vulnerable and suicidal to become mentally resilient through self-compassion training interventions.…”

“…Self-compassion is effective in enhancing a healthy lifestyle such as engaging in regular self-care [102], regular physical activities, and healthy coping strategies [93,[103][104][105]. This can be achieved by providing self-compassion interventions [82] such as psychoeducational programmes [86] via mass media to reach many individuals who would benefit from this kind of programme [106]. The media plays a major role in health communications, health education, and health promotion through mass media and social media which can easily be accessible on several types of devices connected to the Internet [80,81,107,108].…”