Building Respectful Online Space (BROS): Evaluating a Co-designed Anti-cyberbullying Intervention Among Adolescents

Background: The growing prevalence of cyberbullying throughout the world indicates the importance of anti-cyberbullying interventions, especially for adolescents. While few interventions target cyberbullying, content from different regions may not necessarily apply to local contexts, adolescents' viewpoints were not considered in the past designs, few local RCTs, and unclear sustainability.

Objectives: To evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and preliminarily effects of the co-designed anti-cyberbullying intervention: Building Respectful Online Space (BROS).

Methods: A sample of around 90 aged 12 to 15 will be recruited from secondary schools in Hong Kong. This study will adopt a 2-arm experimental trial. Each class will be randomly assigned equally into the intervention arm (BROS) and control arm (Heathy Diet), and eligible students will be allocated to either arm accordingly. The intervention will be provided in one or 3 days based on the school schedule. Participants will be assessed at baseline, 3 weeks later, and 12-week follow-up assessments. The primary outcome is cyberbullying behaviour of perpetration and victimisation; the secondary outcome includes cyberbullying attitudes, sleep quality, and psychosocial well-being. Feasibility and acceptability will be assessed. And generalised estimating equations analysis will be used to investigate the research objectives.

Potential contributions: The results of this study will provide evidence-based support for using a blended approach to prevent cyberbullying, promote psychosocial well-being, and promote sleep health. This intervention is dedicated to using evidence-to-user-driven ideas to develop culturally sensitive interventions to effectively prevent cyberbullying in the future.

There is a growing body of literature that recognises whole-school strategy can be effective in preventing cyberbullying (Lim et al., 2023). Interventions, such as NoTrap! in Italy (Palladino et al., 2016), Prev@cib in Spain (Ortega-Barón et al., 2019), Media Heroes in Germany (Schultze-Krumbholz et al., 2016), 'Friendly Attac' in Belgium (DeSmet et al., 2018; Zagorscak et al., 2019), and ViSC in Austria (Gradinger et al., 2016), have been shown to effectively prevent cyberbullying (Lim et al., 2023). Some school-based programmes integrate digital format into their intervention; for instance, the 'Cyber Friendly Schools' intervention in Australia (Cross et al., 2016) utilises the online modules to facilitate learning; the 'Friendly Attac' program (DeSmet et al., 2018) incorporates series games, and Vlaanderen et al. (2020) adopted a purely online approach to prevent cyberbullying in the Netherlands. A recent systematic review suggests that school-based intervention could comprehensively promote healthy online behaviours and reduce cyberbullying incidence among adolescents (Lan et al., 2022).

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* Students in 1st to 3rd grades in secondary schools
* Students are able to read and understand Chinese
* Students obtained informed consent signed by their parents or legal guardians

Exclusion Criteria:

* Students in grades 4th through 6th who are heavily involved in homework and examination
* Students with severe diseases or co-occurring disorders
* Students' parents/ legal guardians who refuse to sign informed consent.