The Effectiveness of Safe Surfing Intervention Program in Reducing WhatsApp Cyberbullying and Improving Classroom Climate and Student Sense of Class Belonging in Elementary School

Abstract

Schools have prioritized fighting cyberbullying by implementing intervention programs. Yet few interventions have been studied for their effectiveness in reducing cyberbullying and improving socio-emotional aspects in the classroom. This study reports the results of the Safe Surfing intervention program designed to reduce cyberbullying in WhatsApp classmate discourse. Data were collected in the 2017-2018 school year from 533 students in 25 fourth- to sixth-grade classes (50% females) in six elementary schools in Israel. Two of the schools served as the control group. Results indicated a significant decrease in WhatsApp cyberbullying victimization and a significant improvement of classroom climate and student sense of class belonging in the experiment group. This compared with a significant increase in cyberbullying and a significant decrease in classroom climate and student sense of belonging in the control group. Educational implications are discussed. The findings demonstrate the achievements of the anti-cyberbullying intervention program, alongside the threats of avoiding intervention.

Cyberbullying in elementary and middle school students: A systematic review

“…Therefore, educators should try to integrate in their lessons pedagogical frameworks like cooperative learning (instead of creating competitive environments), which have been found positive to build social relations in school contexts suffering from CB (Hortigüela Alcalá et al, 2019). This type of interventions or programs have been found to improve individuals' prosocial skills and behaviors (DeSmet et al, 2018;Van Ryzin, Roseth, & Biglan, 2020), classroom climates, sense of belonging and the victim's self-esteem, which, in turn, has an impact on the positive evolution of cybervictims (Aizenkot & Kashy-Rosenbaum, 2020;Hortigüela et al, 2019). Additionally, teachers could be supported by psychologists, since they are key agents in the psychological assessment of the students (to identify psychosocial problems), as wells as in the design of interventions according to the students' needs (Diamanduros, Downs, & Jenkins, 2008).…”

Effectiveness of Parent-Related Interventions on Cyberbullying Among Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…In this regard, parent-related interventions are developed to increase parents' awareness of the technologies used by their children. Training sessions and workshops are developed to equip parents with knowledge about how to teach their children to seek help and to respond to cyberbullying incidents (Aizenkot & Kashy−Rosenbaum;Athanasiades et al, 2015;Ortega Ruiz et al, 2012). All of these interventions are shown to be effective in protecting adolescents from the negative consequences of cyberbullying (Elgar et al, 2014. Parents' positive involvement reduces the frequency of cyberbullying victimization in the short term.…”

“…The most common parent-related programs are workshops, lectures, training sessions, activities, and online resources, which are created to provide parents with knowledge and tools to monitor their children, raise their children’s awareness of online safety, and prevent or reduce their children’s online behavioral problems (Aizenkot & Kashy−Rosenbaum, 2021; Ferrer−Cascales et al, 2019; Sorrentino et al, 2018; Williford et al, 2013). Given the varying delivery methods, the effectiveness of parent involvement programs in reducing the frequency of cyberbullying may also vary (Chen et al, 2021; Ng et al, 2022).…”

“…Considering the adverse physical, psychological, and societal effects of cyberbullying on children’s development, many attempts have been made to develop anti-cyberbullying programs to reduce its occurrence (e.g., Aizenkot & Kashy−Rosenbaum, 2021; Athanasiades et al, 2015; Chaux et al, 2016). Narrative reviews have identified potential strategies for cyberbullying intervention, such as empathy training (Ang, 2015), educational campaigns (Chisholm, 2014), or interventions developed in collaboration with adolescent participants (Ashktorab & Vitak, 2016).…”

Testing a first online intervention to reduce conformity to cyber aggression in messaging apps

“…Intervention programs so far have not specifically targeted the theoretical mechanisms related to conformity to harmful peer-to-peer behaviors. Additionally, only few focused on the unique context of messaging apps [ 3 , 29 ]. Therefore, the development of our intervention consists of two steps.…”