Learning from traditional bullying interventions: A review of research on cyberbullying and best practice

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a systematic review of cyberbullying intervention programs that are either in current practice and/or have been well documented. There are negative effects associated with cyberbullying including, poor academic, social, and mental health outcomes. Consequently, there is a need to develop evidence-based interventions. Critical content and evaluation elements of traditional bullying interventions provided a framework, due to the limited evidence on effective features for addressing cyberbullying. The review is based on a set of criteria for traditional bullying by Craig, Pepler, and Shelley (2004), which emphasizes scientific merit and ease of implementation. Results suggest that most studies are lacking in scientific merit, with most studies meeting less than half of the criteria. The average ease of implementation score was higher than that of scientific merit, however only 3 programs provided maintenance after implementation. Recommendations are made for best practices for cyberbullying interventions.