Wise Interventions in the Digital Society
Condition: Cyberbullying; Grooming; Risk Behavior
MeSH terms: Cyberbullying
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study evaluates the effectiveness of a Wise intervention based on self-affirmation (SA)
      and Implicit Theories of Personality (ITP) in Spanish adolescents and young people. Half of
      participants will receive the ITP and self-affirmation intervention, while the other half
      will receive a control intervention.
    

Detailed description: 
      Adolescence is a period that involves important transitions and learning opportunities.
      Adolescents and young people learn and develop new competencies and facets in the digital
      society. Hence, a large part of their social relationships takes place through social
      media.This offers them numerous positive opportunities for the emotional and social
      development of adolescents and young people. They can develop positive interactions through
      prosocial behaviors, empathy, and social support towards others. At the same time it is not
      without potential risks, especially in adolescence, a stage of psychological vulnerability
      for risky behaviors. Very recently, interest in scientific social psychology has grown due to
      a new approach to interventions, which have been called "wise interventions." This approach
      involves a set of rigorous techniques, based on theory and research, that address specific
      psychological processes to help people thrive in various life environments. The main
      objective of this project is to design and evaluate the effectiveness of a wise intervention
      based on self-affirmation (SA) and Implicit Theories of Personality (ITP) to promote various
      online prosocial behaviors (help, empathy, collaboration) and prevent online risk and
      harassment behaviors (online bullying, sexting, grooming). Secondary objectives are (1) to
      assess the moderating role of gender and the degree of evolutionary development of
      adolescents and young people, and (2) to evaluate potential mediating mechanisms for the
      effectiveness of the interventions. The study will involve the evaluation of the intervention
      in a sample of around 1000 young and adolescents randomly allocated to experimental and
      control condition.
    

Intervention name(s): Wise Intervention (Self-affirmation and Incremental theory of personality); Standard preventive intervention
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): The intervention designed to promote prosocial behavior and reduce online risks is based on four general types of change strategies: (1) scientific knowledge, (2) generation of new meanings, (3) commitment through action, and (4) active reflection. It includes two components: a self-affirmation activity and an ITP intervention. The SA component includes a list of values so that they could choose the two or three most important for them. Next, they are asked to write why those selected values are the most important to them. The ITP component includes activities such as reading scientific information about social behavior and its role in people's well-being, the meaning and value of online risk behaviors through stories and videos of the experiences of other young people of their age, and self-persuasion exercises that involve an active commitment to change.; It consists of an educational intervention that provides a number of strategies to manage everyday conflicts among adolescents. This intervention teaches them new ways to manage these difficulties through different actions (relaxation, distraction, sports, etc.). Finally, they are asked to plan the strategies they will use in the future in the face of some difficulties and to recommend some guidelines for another adolescent who may be going through a similar situation.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: Participants will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio blocked by gender to one of two groups: experimental condition (SA+ITP) versus control condition (anti-stress condition) in parallel for the duration of the study.
Masking: Double (Participant, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Adolescence; Youth; Cyberbullying; Grooming; Sexting; Prevention