School-Based Intervention on Cyberbullying-Related Outcomes and Psycho-Social Well-Being in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

In line with the popularity of online activities among school-aged children and adolescents, the prevalence of cyberbullying has continued to increase globally. Implementing effective intervention in schools could be a potential solution. This review aims to examine the effectiveness of a school-based intervention on cyberbullying-related outcomes and psychosocial well-being at postintervention and follow-up assessments and identify potential covariates on intervention effects. A three-step search was conducted using 12 electronic databases (Cochrane, ProQuest, PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, EMBASE, CINAHL, ERIC, CNKI, Wanfang, and Airiti Library). Meta-analysis, subgroup, and meta-regression were adopted. A total of 44 randomized controlled trials involving 65,707 participants from 15 countries were included. Meta-analyses revealed that interventions significantly reduced cyberbullying perpetration (g = −.15, p < .001), victimization (g = −.11, p = .007), behavior (g = −.28, p < .001), and increased knowledge (g = .15, p = .013) after the intervention. The follow-up at ≤ 6 months showed a significant reduction in cyberbullying victimization (g = −.20, p = .007). We discovered that interventions had no significant impact on cyberbullying bystanders, attitudes, awareness, or psychosocial well-being. Subgroup and meta-regression analyses suggested that interventions with longer total hours and duration with ≥ 5 hr were more effective. Additionally, the results indicated diversity in cyberbullying outcomes based on region, age, gender, and comparator. Considering that the certainty of the evidence was either low or very low, we could consider implementing the intervention as an extracurricular activity. We need future robust trials with long-term follow-up assessments.