DataBased Bullying Prevention: Assessment and Intervention

1
Data-Based Bullying Prevention Assessment and
Intervention

• Amanda B. Siebecker, M.A.
• Susan M. Swearer, Ph.D.
• Jami E. Givens, M.A.
• Lynae A. Johnsen, M.A.
• University of Nebraska Lincoln
• National Association of School Psychologists
  (NASP) Annual Convention, Anaheim, CA
• March 29th, 2006

2
This Presentation Will

• Integrate a case example of bullying assessment
  and intervention.
• Provide a brief overview of bullying.
• Provide suggestions for assessment.
• Discuss suggestions for intervention
• Prevention
• School-Wide
• Classroom based
• Individual based

3
Intervention School - Case Example

• A partnership between the school and the
  University of Nebraska Lincoln.
• A five-year longitudinal study examining
  ecological variables in bullying over time and
  across schools with a sixth year follow-up.
• Researchers provide yearly feedback to school.
• Participating school was a large middle school in
  a Midwestern community.

4
Participants
Baseline
Intervention
5
What is Bullying?

• In order to accurately identify and intervene
  everyone in the school MUST understand what
  bullying is (Smith, Schneider, Smith,
  Ananiadou, 2004).
• Bullying is
• negative, mean behavior
• Verbal, physical, exclusion
• occurs repeatedly (over time)
• in a relationship that is characterized by an
  imbalance of power or strength.
• (Olweus, 2000)

6
Who is Involved in Bullying?

• Bully reports bullying others
• Victim reports being bullied by others
• Bully-victim reports bullying others being
  bullied
• Bystander reports observing others being
  bullied
• No Status/Not involved does not report any
  involvement with bullying

7
Why adults cant always tell when it is bullying

• The same aggressive behaviors (taunting, teasing,
  hitting, pushing) can be playful or deliberate
  conflict depending intent.
• Adults typically dont see the bullying.
• The dividing line between bullying (repeatedly
  and to intimidate) and being mean (a single
  aggressive act) is not immediately apparent to
  adults.
• BULLYING IS A COMPLEX DYNAMIC!

8
Prevalence Rates

• 10.1 to 37 of students report being victimized
  two or three times a month
• (Solberg Olweus, 2003 Limber Small, 2000)
• 8.4 to 34 of students in the U.S. report being
  victimized at least once per week.
• (Nansel et al., 2001 Stockdale, Hangaduambo,
  Duys, Larson, Sarvela, 2002)
• 75 of adolescents report having been bullied at
  some time during their school years (Hoover,
  Oliver, Hazler, 1992)

9
School Climate is a Factor in Bullying Prevalence

• Perception
• Individuals in the same environment may have a
  different perception of the climate in that
  environment.
• This perception is likely to be affected by
  current or past experiences within that
  environment.

10
School Climate Factors Related to Bullying

• School discipline that is too authoritarian or
  too lax
• Reinforcement of bullying behavior
• Ignoring bullying behavior
• Acceptance of bullying by peer groups
• Acceptance of bullying by staff
• Modeling by school staff and other students
• (Ma, 2002 Hoover Hazler, 1991 Greenbaum,
  1987)

11
What Are Schools To Do?

• Of the more than 300 published violence
  prevention programs, less than a quarter of these
  programs report outcome data showing that they
  reduce or prevent violence.
• Schools face the challenge of determining which
  programs and procedures will work in their
  particular school and community ecologies.
• (Howard, Flora, and Griffin, 1999).

12
Assessment Informs Prevention and Intervention
13
Tips on Successful School Assessment

• Consider partnering with university researchers
  to conduct an assessment of bullying behaviors
• Conduct a school-wide anonymous assessment of
  bullying behaviors.
• Include multiple informants (students, teachers,
  school staff, parents)
• Use self-report, other report (nomination
  inventories), observations
• (Swearer Espelage, 2003)

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Tips on Successful School Assessment

• Graph data to create a picture of the scope of
  bullying in a particular school
• Use the data to conduct classroom presentations
  on bullying
• Use the data to create prevention and
  intervention programs for bullying
• Share data with parent groups (e.g., PTA)
• Create a data-based decision making climate
  through the use of individual school data to help
  guide prevention and intervention programming.

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Case ExampleComprehensive Assessment

• Peer Behaviors
• The Bully Survey (Swearer, 2001)
• Peer Nomination Inventory
• Teacher Nomination Inventory
• School Climate
• Thoughts About School (TAS Swearer Song, 1999)
• Internalizing Symptomatology
• Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children
  (MASC March, 1997)
• Childrens Depression Inventory (CDI Kovacs,
  1992)
• Aggression Questionnaire (Buss Perry, 1992)
• Hopelessness Scale (Kazdin, et al., 1983)
• Locus of Control Scale (Nowicki-Strickland, 1973)
• School records data Grades, GPA, Test Scores,
  Office referrals, Absences, Suspensions

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Places Where Bullying was Observed Bully
Survey Assessment

• Hallway and classroom were identified across the
  board as problematic areas.
• Recess and other were identified as problematic
  during 6th grade, but not during 7th or 8th.

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Bullying Intervention

• Prevention
• School-Wide
• Class-Wide
• Individual

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Elements of Prevention and Intervention
Programs

• Three levels
• School level interventions to change the culture
  and climate of the school
• Classroom level interventions targeting teachers
  and staff
• Student level interventions targeting individuals
  or small groups
• (Whitted Dupper, 2005)
• Consider individual characteristics
• Anger
• Depression/Anxiety
• Social Skills Deficit vs. Theory of Mind
• Empathy
• (Espelage, Mebane, Swearer, 2004)

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Prevention

• Prevention trumps intervention
• It is better to prevent problems by developing
  effective skills than treating full-blown
  problems (Horne, Orpinas, Newman-Carlson,
  Bartolomucci, 2003).

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Bullying Prevention

• Help children respond to physical aggression.
• Teach them to use verbal assertiveness, seek out
  adults, or ignore the aggressor (depending on the
  situation).
• Social-Cognitive Interventions
• Teach children to make more benign attributions
• Assertiveness Training
• Teach children to express their negative feelings
  calmly and in the least threatening manner.
• (Underwood, 2003)

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Bullying Prevention

• Focus on students who spend time alone
• Integrate them into a peer group, teach them
  appropriate social skills, assign them activities
  with certain peers.
• Teaching peers to defend victims
• Peers taught strategies to interrupt aggression
  they witness.
• Interrupt gossip
• The first response influences following comments.
• Changing the environment is powerful
• More powerful than just intervening with
  individuals
• All children are affected by bullying

(Underwood, 2003)
22
Mean School Climate Scores, baseline and
intervention, by grade
6th Grade t (237) 1.987, plt .05 7th Grade t
(230) 1.307, p gt .05 8th Grade t (165)
3.907, p lt .05
23
School-Wide Interventions

• School-wide interventions can reduce bullying
  behaviors by 20-50.
• (Arora 1994, Olweus, 1994)

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Whole School Intervention

• Increase awareness among EVERYONE in the school.
• Posters in the hallways and classrooms
• Training for teachers, staff, and students
• Create a clear consistent policy anti-bullying
  policy
• Anonymous Reporting is an ESSENTIAL Component
• Document incidents in detail, be consistent,
  follow-up
• Integrate anti-bullying messages into the
  curriculum
• Stories, writing assignments, etc.
• Provide individual intervention for those
  directly involved
• (Smith, Schneider, Smith, Ananiadou, 2004)

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Suggestions for School-Wide Intervention

• Increase monitoring of bullying hot spots
  (i.e., hallways, classrooms)
• Include the area around schools and include
  parents in monitoring efforts.
• Get bystanders to view bullying as negative and
  refrain from supporting bullying behavior.
• Interventions should be developmentally based and
  should address changes throughout the middle
  school years.
• Have a realistic expectation that bullying cannot
  be totally eliminated
• Constant vigilance and communication between
  teachers, administration, students, and parents
  Where theres smoke theres fire

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Classroom Level Intervention
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Suggestions for Classroom Intervention

• Intervene quickly and consistently.
• Examine bystander responses to bullying.
• Weave bullying awareness into the curriculum.
• Support teachers in responding to bullying

• Monitor student behavior in hallways and in the
  classroom.
• Be aware of seating arrangements and student
  involvement in bullying.
• Create an open-door policy for all students.

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Individual Intervention
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Suggestions for Individual Intervention

• Individualize counseling services to address
  internalizing problems across subtypes of
  bully/victims.
• Involve parents in the intervention process
• Think about group interventions carefully (i.e.,
  groups may not be effective for bullies and/or
  bully-victims).
• Help victims avoid being targets
• Respond to ALL incidents, even minor.
• Take reports or incidents seriously
• Take action to remediate the situation ASAP
• Provide on-going follow-up support

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Problem-Focused Intervention Suggestions

• Problem Solving
• See Kazdin, 1996
• Social Skills Training
• See Bierman, Miller, Staub, 1987
• Anger Management Training
• See Feindler, Ecton, Kingsley, Dubey, 1986
  Lochman, Burch, Curry, and Lampron, 1984
• Empathy Development
• See Frey, Hirschstein, Guzzo, 2000
• Assertiveness Training
• See Underwood (2003)

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Empirically Validated Intervention Program
Suggestions

• The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program
• (Olweus Limber, 1999).
• Second Step
• (Committee for Children, 2005).
• Expect Respect
• (Meraviglia, Becker, Rosenbluth, Sanchez,
  Robertson, 2003).
• Bully Busters
• (Newman, Horne, Bartolomucci, 2000).

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What Not to Do in Bullying Prevention and
Intervention

• Failing to recognize that more than just the
  bully and victim are involved in bullying
• Having a zero tolerance approach
• Group treatment for bullies
• Have bully-victims in groups for victims
• Mediation/conflict resolution
• Simple, short-term solutions (i.e., suspension)
• School-wide interventions WITHOUT 80-100 staff
  support

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Example of What Not to Do

• TRUE STORY (Newsweek, April 12, 2004)
• People were climbing over seats and started
  fighting about stupid stuff.
• -Woodlawn High School freshman Melissa Parks, on
  the arrests of 11 students and two adults after a
  fight broke out in the Maryland schools
  anger-management assembly.

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Percent involved with Bullying
p lt.05

• No significant differences were found between
  baseline and intervention for 6th graders
  although there was a decreasing trend. They were
  1.14 times more likely to be involved in bullying
  during baseline than intervention.
• Significant differences were found between
  baseline and intervention for 7th graders and 8th
  graders. Seventh graders were 1.27 times more
  likely and eighth graders were 1.5 times more
  likely to be involved in bullying during baseline
  than intervention.

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Bully/Victim Status Pre Post Intervention
Baseline
Intervention
Intervention
Baseline
Bully
Victim
Baseline
Intervention
Intervention
Baseline
Bully-Victim
Not Involved
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So, What Happened during the Intervention

• Staff turnover was imminent at the end of year 5
  (data are collected each spring).
• Significant administration problems.
• Intervention fidelity decreased in year 5 and
  essentially abandoned by most staff in year 6.
• As a result, there was an increase in bullying
• Positive leadership is VITAL for continued
  intervention success.

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School Climate- Student and Teacher for Year 6
F (1, 149) 8.896, p lt .05 n 151
F (1, 388) .474, p gt .05 n 390

• School climate for the school during year 6 was
  clearly lower than the overall school climate for
  the district school teachers.

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Summary

• Assessment is vital to understanding your school
  ecology and informing intervention and
  prevention.
• Intervention and prevention need to be tailored
  to individual school, classroom, and student
  needs.
• Implementation for intervention needs to be
  clear, consistent, and supported across the
  entire school.

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Questions?

• Amanda Siebecker mandasiebecker_at_yahoo.com
• Jami Givens
• jgivens_at_bigred.unl.edu
• Lynae Johnsen
• ljohnsen_at_bigred.unl.edu

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Target Bullying Ecologically-Based Prevention
and Intervention
For more information contact Susan M.
Swearer, Ph.D. University of Nebraska
Lincoln 402-472-1741/sswearer_at_unlserve.unl.edu www
.targetbully.com
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References

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• Bierman, Miller, Staub, 1987
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• Committee for Children (2005). Second Step
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• Espelage, D.L., Mebane, S.E. Swearer, S. M.
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References

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References

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