NettOpp: The Development and Evaluation of an App-based Selective Intervention for Adolescents Exposed to Cyberbullying

NettOpp: The Development and Evaluation of an App-based Selective Intervention for Adolescents Exposed to Cyberbullying

NettOpp: The Development and Evaluation of an App-based Selective Intervention for Adolescents Exposed to Cyberbullying

The aim of the project is to develop and evaluate an app-based intervention for adolescents who have been exposed to cyberbullying. The overarching goal is to offer a low-threshold intervention, called NettOpp, that is easy accessible and free to use for every junior high school student who has experienced cyberbullying in Norway.

The main aim of the intervention is to increase coping strategies for adolescents who have been exposed to cyberbullying. More specifically the aims are to increase 1) knowledge about cyberbullying, 2) help-seeking behavior, 3) coping strategies with cyberbullying, 4) to reduce mental health problems, and 5) cyberbullying, and 6) to increase self-esteem and the 7) sleeping quality of the adolescents. To evaluate the mobile application three studies will be conducted: A lab test, a pilot study, and a larger effectiveness study with a follow-up examination after 3 months. The lab test will be conducted to examine the quality of the prototype of the app in order to find out if adjustments have to be made. Thereafter, a pilot study will be conducted with adolescents that were exposed to cyberbullying in the past six months. The pilot study will use a pre-post design.The effectiveness study will be conducted as a randomized controlled trial with an intervention group and a waiting-list control group.

The effectiveness study will be conducted as a randomized controlled trial with an intervention group and a waiting-list control group. Data will be collected at baseline (T1, pre intervention) and after about 2 weeks of intervention (T2, post intervention). A follow-up evaluation (T3) will be conducted after about 3 months to examine if the effects were stable over time.

NettOpp is a mobile application for adolescents aged 11-16 years who have been exposed to cyberbullying or cyberaggression.

Adolescents: SDQ (Goodman, 1997): A 25 item self-report assessing mental health and psychosocial functioning in 11-17 years old adolescents on a three point scale.

Adolescents: CATS (Sachser et al., 2017): A 20 item self-report assessing posttraumatic stress-symptoms for 7-17 year old adolescents on a four point scale.

Adolescents: WHO-5 (WHO, 1998): A five item self-report questionnaire assessing well-being on a six point scale.

Adolescents: three self-report items measuring if they sought help, who they sought help from, and if they received the help they needed.

Adolescents: Cyberbullying (Olweus, 1993): One self-report item measuring the frequency of cyberbullying exposure.

Adolescents: Self-liking and Competence Scale (Silvera, Neilands, & Perry, 2001; Tafarodi & Swann, 2001): A 20 item self-report assessing self-liking and self-competence.

Adolescents: Sleeping quality will be measured with six questions with different response categories from the Bergen Child Study (Hysing, Harvey, Stormark, Pallesen, & Sivertsen, 2018).

Adolescents: CCQ (Jacobs, Völlink, Dehue, & Lechner, 2015): A 17 item self-report assessing how often the adolescents use the different cyberbullying coping strategies.

Inclusion Criteria: Adolescents whose guardians have given consent and who agree to take part in the study Exclusion Criteria: severe developmental or cognitive challenges

Kaiser S, Martinussen M, Adolfsen F, Breivik K, Kyrrestad H. An App-Based Intervention for Adolescents Exposed to Cyberbullying in Norway: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Res Protoc. 2021 Nov 8;10(11):e31789. doi: 10.2196/31789.