Program Profile: Prev@cib Program (Spain)

This is an anti-bullying program for adolescents in Spain, which is designed to decrease bullying and cyberbullying perpetration and victimization both in the classroom and virtual environments. The program is rated Promising. There was a statistically significant decrease in bullying and victimization and cyberbullying and cybervictimization for the treatment group, compared with the control group.

A Promising rating implies that implementing the program may result in the intended outcome(s).

Program Goals/Target Population

Prev@cib is an anti-bullying and cyberbullying program for adolescent students in Spain. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention characterizes bullying as any unwanted aggressive behavior(s) by another youth or a group of youth who are not siblings or current dating partners, which involves an observed or perceived power imbalance and is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated (Gladden et al. 2014). Considered a modality of traditional bullying (Slonje, Smith, and Frisén 2017), cyberbullying refers to actions by an individual or a group of people who engage in intentional and aggressive behavior using electronic devices, repeatedly over time, against victims who cannot easily defend themselves (Waasdorp and Bradshaw 2015). The goal of the Prev@cib program is to decrease bullying and cyberbullying perpetration and victimization among adolescents.

Program Activities/Key Personnel

Prev@cib consists of 10, 1-hour sessions, distributed in three modules, as follows:

1. Information. This four-session module covers risk and prevention factors for bullying and cyberbullying, as well as information about sexting and grooming, to increase adolescents’ awareness, help them detect these behaviors, better protect themselves (especially on the Internet), and avoid being part of cyberbullying. This module includes Session 1. My life is a display window; Session 2. Bullying and cyberbullying; Session 3. Sexting and grooming; and Session 4. Cyber-protection.
2. Awareness. This two-session module focuses on awareness and sensitization about cyberbullying and the harm of both virtual and in-school peer violence. This module emphasizes the importance of adolescents understanding the harmful consequences of these types of violence, to encourage change at the cognitive, behavioral, and attitudinal levels, and prevent and reduce this peer abuse at school and online. This module includes Session 5. Consequences and we are all responsible; and Session 6. What if you were the victim?
3. Involvement. This four-session module focuses on involvement in and commitment to prevention and intervention in cyberbullying. The sessions emphasize the role of students to prevent and stop bullying and cyberbullying through fostering a climate of respect in the classroom so that adolescents do not tolerate this type of violence, either in schools or virtually. This module includes Session 7. What to do when faced with bullying? Session 8. (Cyber)helpers; Session 9. I like myself, I like you; and Session 10. No more bullying.

Program Theory

Prev@cib is based on three theoretical frameworks: 1) the ecological model (Bronfenbrenner 1981), 2) empowerment theory (Zimmerman 2000), and 3) the personal and social responsibility model (Hellison 1995). The ecological model seeks to explain how children’s development is affected by their social relationships and the world around them and identifies five levels of influence: 1) the microsystem, 2) mesosystem, 3) exosystem, 4) macrosystem, and 5) chronosystem (Bronfenbrenner 1981). Using this model, the program components emphasize personal, microsocial, and contextual risk and protection factors related to bullying and cyberbullying.

The empowerment theory involves strengthening individual, group, and community resources to allow adolescents to control their lives in both virtual and school settings (Zimmerman 2000). As such, Prev@cib offers students various resources and coping strategies to help them deal with bullying and cyberbullying, including activities about cybernetic security measures or the legal consequences of in-person or virtual violence perpetration.

Lastly, the personal and social responsibility model asserts that responsible behaviors can be taught and generalized to other contexts of life; the program promotes the concept of shared responsibility and adolescents’ involvement in the prevention and reduction of bullying and cyberbullying. For example, the third module, on involvement, emphasizes the importance of involving all students in working against peer bullying and cyberbullying.

Study

Ortega-Barón and colleagues (2019) used a repeated-measures (pretest and posttest) quasi-experimental design to examine the effects of Prev@cib on bullying and cyberbullying perpetration and victimization in an adolescent sample. The sample comprised 660 adolescents from four high schools in Valencia, Spain. These schools were selected through nonprobability convenience sampling based on their accessibility and interest in participating. Slightly more than half of the sample (53.2 percent) was female, and the ages ranged between 12 and 17, with an average age of 13.6 years. Almost 29 percent of students were in seventh grade, 32 percent were in eighth grade, 21.5 percent were in ninth grade, and 17.5 percent were in 10th grade. The study researchers randomly assigned the adolescents to one of two groups: 1) the experimental group, which received the Prev@cib program during homeroom periods; or 2) the control group, which did not receive the program. There were 434 students (24 classes) that participated in the experimental group, and 236 students (11 classes) in the control group. The average number of students per class was 23. No statistically significant differences were found between experimental and control participants in terms of age, gender, and grade in school.

Adolescents in both the experimental and control groups completed a number of instruments to evaluate the short-term effects of the program, at both pretest (the month before the intervention), and posttest (9 months after the intervention). Participants completed the 12-item Scale of Peer Victimization at School that evaluates the degree of victimization at school within the past school year, such as “A classmate hit or punched me.” Responses were given on a Likert-type scale (never, only once, a few times in the past month, many times in the past month, and this happens to me quite often). Participants also completed the 12-item Scale of School Aggression to evaluate aggressive behaviors toward peers in the school context within the past 12 months (i.e., “I am someone who hits, kicks, and punches others.”), with response options also on a Likert-type scale (never, seldom, sometimes, often, and always). To explore the victim perspective, researchers administered the Scale of Victimization through the Cell Phone and Internet using 15 items that measure the adolescent’s experience as a victim of cyberbullying within the past 12 months (e.g., “I have been insulted or ridiculed through social networks, Internet, or cell phone”). This scale was used to measure cybernetic behaviors of harassment, persecution, belittlement, invasion of privacy, social exclusion, and identity theft. Responses were captured on a Likert-type scale with five response options (never, seldom, sometimes, often, quite often). Finally, the 15-item Scale of Aggression through the Cell phone and Internet measured cybernetic behaviors of harassment, persecution, belittlement, invasion of privacy, social exclusion, and identity theft from the aggressor’s perspective. This scale measures the frequency with which the respondent has participated in aggressive behaviors through new technologies within the past 12 months (e.g., “I have insulted or made fun of someone through social networks, Internet, or cell phone”). This Likert-type scale had five response options: never, seldom, sometimes, often, and a lot. The definitions of bullying and cyberbullying were provided to participants in advance for all scales.

Several 2 x 2 mixed factorial ANOVAs were used, with a between-subjects factor (experimental group and control group) and a within-subjects factor (pretest and posttest) to evaluate the effects of the program on each of the study variables. The study authors did not conduct subgroup analyses.

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

Following are CrimeSolutions-rated programs that are related to this practice:

Bullying Prevention Programs

The practice includes programs designed to reduce bullying perpetration and victimization and to increase positive bystander behavior in bullying situations. The practice is rated Effective for reducing bullying perpetration (e.g., overall and physical), reducing bullying victimization (e.g., overall and relational), and increasing positive bystander behavior. The practice is rated Ineffective for increasing bystander empathy for bullying victims and reducing verbal bullying victimization.

Evidence Ratings for Outcomes

	Juvenile Problem & At-Risk Behaviors - Bullying
	Victimization - Overall bullying victimization
	Victimization - Relational bullying victimization
	Victimization - Physical bullying victimization
	Victimization - Bystander intervention
	Mental Health & Behavioral Health - Empathy for the victim
	Victimization - Verbal bullying victimization

Cyberbullying Prevention and Intervention Programs

This practice comprises intervention and prevention programs that are designed to reduce or prevent negative online behaviors among school-aged children ages 9 to 19. Programs include individual-level, multi-level systemic, and universal or whole-school approaches. This practice is rated Effective for reducing cyberbullying perpetration and victimization.

Evidence Ratings for Outcomes

	Juvenile Problem & At-Risk Behaviors - Bullying
	Victimization - Cyberbullying victimization

School-Based Cyberbullying Prevention Programs

This practice aims to decrease cyberbullying perpetration and victimization and promote cyber-bystander behaviors among students in kindergarten through grade 12. This practice is rated Promising for reducing cyberbullying perpetration and victimization and is rated Promising for reducing bullying perpetration and victimization. This practice is rated Ineffective for promoting cyber-bystander behaviors.

Evidence Ratings for Outcomes

	Juvenile Problem & At-Risk Behaviors - Cyberbullying perpetration
	Victimization - Cyberbullying victimization
	Juvenile Problem & At-Risk Behaviors - Perpetration
	Victimization - Bullying victimization
	Victimization - Cyber-bystander behavior

Why might a practice's outcome ratings differ from the ratings of specific programs encompassed by that practice?