Evaluation of a gamified cyberbullying prevention programme for Hong Kong primary students

Abstract

Cyberbullying refers to harmful behaviour repeatedly committed upon someone who has limited ways of defending themselves via information and communication technologies. To tackle the societal problem of alarming cyberbullying prevalence, a school-based gamified programme called Cyber Warrior was developed for primary school students in the attempt of halting further increase of cyberbullying perpetration and victimization. With reference to the theory of planned behaviour and utilizing a gamification approach, the programme aimed to induce positive behavioural outcomes through psychoeducation of protective strategies in face of cyberbullying and informing students about the repercussions of bullying behaviour. To investigate the programme’s effectiveness, 295 students from a Hong Kong primary school were recruited. Their classes were randomly assigned into treatment and control group. Pretest-posttest analyses and between-group comparisons were conducted. Results demonstrated the programme’s effectiveness in enhancing psychoeducational knowledge and provided some evidence for preventive effects on cyberbullying perpetration. Refinement of psychoeducational knowledge and whole-school participation is recommended for future development of similar programmes.