What works in anti-bullying programs?

When we briefly talked about anti-bullying programs in class, it made me wonder if they work so well or what method in them. While researching, I came across this meta-analysis, which I thought is interesting and probably very important to keep in mind, when doing interventions in class. It also shows the importance of proper evaluation. That means whenever you develop something or do an intervention, you should check if it came to the intended outcome. Hannah's post sets a great example because she talks about an intervention program that did not have the intended outcome, but it's still used every year in Belgium schools. In their meta-analysis, Gaffney et al. (2021) identified several components of what works in school bullying programs and what does not. In the following, I put a table together that summarizes their findings:

Effective components	Ineffective or less effective components
Whole-school approach – Involving all levels of the school system improves effectiveness.	Socio-emotional skills training – Surprisingly, programs that did not explicitly include socio-emotional skills training (e.g., empathy, conflict resolution) showed better outcomes.
Anti-bullying policies – Clearly defined and enforced policies reduce bullying.	Formal parent meetings – Parent information (leaflets/letters) was useful, but formal meetings showed no significant impact.
Classroom rules & management – Establishing anti-bullying rules and structure within classrooms reduces bullying behavior.	Encouraging bystanders – Some studies showed that focusing on bystander involvement did not significantly improve outcomes.
Information for parents – Sending informative material home to parents helped reduce both victimization and perpetration.	Program richness – Including many different components did not necessarily improve effectiveness.
Informal peer involvement – Activities like role-playing and discussions were linked to lower bullying rates.	Punitive disciplinary methods – These had limited effectiveness compared to non-punitive strategies.
Working with victims individually – Targeted interventions for victims helped reduce bullying.
Teacher Training  – training on classroom behavior management helps reduce bullying perpetration.
Mental health  –  incorporating cognitive-behavioral and mental health techniques significantly increased program effectiveness.

 

Reading this, you should be aware that these findings are based on correlations and therefore could be influenced by restrictions in the studies used (Gaffney et al., 2021). In addition to that, these are not all variables of effectiveness, because of study restrictions. You can see this table as a brief overview. Still, I found it very interesting to see what works and what does not in Anti-bullying programs.

 

Sources: Gaffney H, Ttofi MM, Farrington DP. What works in anti-bullying programs? Analysis of effective intervention components. J Sch Psychol. 2021 Apr;85:37-56. doi: 10.1016/j.jsp.2020.12.002. Epub 2021 Jan 28. PMID: 33715780.

Sophia Allgeyer