Are bullying prevention programs effective?

Bullying prevention programs are typically found in schools, after-school activities, or other extra-curricular activities that children engage in.  Bullying prevention programs are designed to teach children how to interact with others, treat others, and communicate without being mean, inappropriate, or unhealthy.  They are designed to punish and, at times, expel the child who is bullying from school or the activity or organization.

Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) takes the findings from research and applies them to day-to-day inpatient care.  It also considers clinical knowledge, expertise, and the client that the professional is working with.

Several evidence-based studies have found that bullying prevention programs can be effective in reducing bullying.  What was found was that the programs were effective in reducing school bullying by approximately 19-20% and that school bullying victimization was reduced by approximately 15-16%.  Findings also showed that some approaches decreased the bullying while other approaches increased or made the bullying worse and increased the impact on the victim.

Research has found that doing a one-time assembly in school with a speaker does nothing to combat bullying.  It has also been found that encouraging and/or forcing the bully and the victim to speak to one another and promise to be nice to one another also backfires because it increases the bullying. After all, there is no lesson taught; nothing is reinforced other than empty forced words between the victim and the bully.

Research has found that reducing bullying in schools is having anti-bullying classes as part of the curriculum; this approach was actually started in Norway and addressed both victims and perpetrators of bullying.  The program teaches empathy and encourages conversation between students, teachers, and staff to include victims and the bullies themselves.  The program focuses on understanding emotions and actions for both victim and perpetrator and encourages students to understand what they are thinking and feeling.  In addition, it also focuses on understanding the root causes of bullying while also teaching socialization and emotional intelligence.