The development and pilot testing of an adolescent bullying intervention in Indonesia – the ROOTS Indonesia program

Abstract

Bullying has been described as one of the most tractable risk factors for poor mental health and educational outcomes, yet there is a lack of evidence-based interventions for use in low and middle-income settings. We aimed to develop and assess the feasibility of an adolescent-led school intervention for reducing bullying among adolescents in Indonesian secondary schools. The intervention was developed in iterative stages: identifying promising interventions for the local context; formative participatory action research to contextualize proposed content and delivery; and finally two pilot studies to assess feasibility and acceptability in South Sulawesi and Central Java. The resulting intervention combines two key elements: 1) a student-driven design to influence students pro-social norms and behavior, and 2) a teacher-training component designed to enhance teacher’s knowledge and self-efficacy for using positive discipline practices. In the first pilot study, we collected data from 2,075 students in a waitlist-controlled trial in four schools in South Sulawesi. The pilot study demonstrated good feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. We found reductions in bullying victimization and perpetration when using the Forms of Bullying Scale. In the second pilot study, we conducted a randomised waitlist controlled trial in eight schools in Central Java, involving a total of 5,517 students. The feasibility and acceptability were good. The quantitative findings were more mixed, with bullying perpetration and victimization increasing in both control and intervention schools. We have designed an intervention that is acceptable to various stakeholders, feasible to deliver, is designed to be scalable, and has a clear theory of change in which targeting adolescent social norms drives behavioral change. We observed mixed findings across different sites, indicating that further adaptation to context may be needed. A full-randomized controlled trial is required to examine effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the program.

The retrospective bullying experiences questionnaire (RBEQ): Its psychometric properties in Iranian University students

“…Particularly, students with deficits in social skills are more likely to be victimized (Landfield, 2006). Also, most often school authorities disregard indirect bullying (Bowes et al, 2019). This is while, cognitive capability typically improve in adolescence (Do et al, 2019), and this ability can lead to raise in indirect bullying (Crothers et al, 2019).…”

“…Indeed, detecting bullies and victims in higher grades is more difficult for teachers (Yablon, 2017), as bullies may cleverly obscure their acts from teachers (Haegele et al, 2020; Nelson et al, 2019). Also, teachers typically treat indirect bullying as a natural behavior (Bowes et al, 2019). They are less likely to be aware of and intervene in indirect bullying (Nelson et al, 2019).…”

Adolescent Health Series: Adolescent neurocognitive development in Western and Sub‐Saharan African contexts

“…'Grassroots' interventions, in which socially connected adolescents are supported in developing and delivering interventions, enable adolescents to identify the key issues in their community (which may differ to those defined by adults) and aim to spread behavioural change through shifting social norms. This type of intervention has been effective in reducing bullying and smoking in high-income countries [173,174], although evidence from Indonesia highlights the importance of careful adaptation to context and local resources [175].…”

Pencegahan Perundungan/Bullying di Insititusi Pendidikan: Pendekatan Norma Hukum dan Perubahan Perilaku

“…Disiplin positif diberikan kepada para guru agar mereka mampu membangun kapasitas diri sebagai guru untuk menghindari hukuman fisik dengan memberi keterampilan untuk menerapkan disiplin positif. 39 disiplin positif mengajarkan keterampilan sosial dan kehidupan yang penting bagi anak-anak dan orang dewasa, termasuk orang tua, guru dan pendidik lainnya. 40 Di dalam kelas, disiplin positif ditujukan untuk mengembangkan hubungan yang saling menghormati.…”