Translating an In-Person Brief, Bystander Bullying Intervention (STAC) to a Technology-Based

Project Summary While studies support the efficacy of comprehensiveschool wide interventions in reducing bullyingthese types of programs can require significant time and financial resources for implementationresulting in barriers to providing school based bullying preventionespecially in low income and rural communitiesAdditionallyalthough training bystanders to act asdefenderson behalf of targets of bullying is an important intervention componentfew programs include this as part of their comprehensive strategyBrief programs that focus on bystander training and require fewer resources are needed to reduce bullying and its negative consequencesThe PIDrMidgettdeveloped STACa briefstand alone bullying bystander intervention for middle school studentsto reduce bullying and mental health risks for bystandersBriefin person programshoweverstill pose implementation barrier such as training school personnelproviding external supportand not allowing for large groups of students to be trained at the same timeFor this projectwe propose to develop a technologybased STAC interventionSTAC Tthat will allow students to customize their experience by selecting avatars and bullying scenarios based on our previous studies conducted in a range of middle schoolsincluding those in low income and rural communitiesWe will also incorporate an assessment and personalized feedback component to promote behavior changeThe innovativeuser centered design proposed will be inherently sensitive to cultural needs of students and identify personally appropriate strategiesThe specific aims of this application include conducting a needs analysis to determine product needbuilding a system prototype leveraging our prior work and expertise of an external advisory boardand usability and effectiveness testing with middle school students and stakeholders to evaluate feasibilityThis proposal is designed to document proof of concept and finalizing design and content of the system which will be developed and tested in a subsequent randomized clinical trialThe technology based platform will increase the overall reachimpactand sustainability of the STAC intervention for bullying preventionIt will substantially reduce cost to increase reach and its interactivity and algorithms can tailor program content to adapt it further for students attending low income and rural schoolsThusthis low costeasy to disseminate technology based bullying bystander intervention has the potential to have a substantial impact on the problem of bullying and the negative associated consequences for both students who are targets and bystanders in middle school when the problem of bullying peaksThere is a large market for the STAC T intervention with approximatelypublic and private schools with middle school grades in the United StatesGloballythe online education market is growing ata year and the digital health market exceeds $billion annually Project Narrative School interventions to reduce bullying can be effective but also require substantial time and resourcesOnline technologies have the potential to deliver effective bullying interventions to a large number of middle schools for less costThe feasibility of delivering the effective STAC bullying intervention through a mobile web app will be tested using a needs analysis with school administratorsfocus groups with middle school studentsand development and usability testing of a prototype