Secondary School Bullying:
Psychodrama empowering
bystanders to decrease bullying.
Supervisors: Dr. Paul O’Halloran & Dr. Kathleen Gregory
La Trobe University
Defining bullying
Early definitions conceptualized bullying as;
• a subset of aggressive behaviours that
intentionally caused harm to the recipient
• the desire to hurt or put someone under
pressure (Boultan & Underwod, 1992)
• Repeated oppression, physical or psychological,
of a less powerful person by a more powerful
person or group
• A systematic abuse of power (Smith & Sharp, 1994)
International Intervention
Programs
The First Bergen Project Against Bullying 1991
was a comprehensive school program that
became the blue print for most intervention
programs.
• Provided training for teachers, parents and
pupils.
• Directed at reducing forms of indirect and direct
bullying
• 50% reduction in self-reported bullying
(Olweus, 1991)
The Flanders Study, Belgium, was interested in
whether sustained support to schools would help
reduce bullying rates.
• Directive intervention
• Clear rules established
• No significant changes found in secondary
schools
• Small changes in role of bystander in primary
school
(Stevens et al., 2000)
The Sheffield Study, England proposed that
effectiveness increased when the whole school
community was involved.
• Clear guidelines on how to deal with bullying
were established
• 17% increase in students who had not been
bullied
• 14% decrease in frequency of those being
bullied (Smith et al., 1999)
Prevalence Rates
• Usually large scale studies involving a combination of primary
and secondary schools
• Ranges from 11.3% in Finland (Kumpulainen et al., 1998) to
49.8% in Ireland (O’Moore & kirkham, 2001)
• In secondary schools bullying incidents ranges from
- 4.2% in British schools (Salmon, James & Smith, 1999)
- 10% in American schools (Nansel et al., 2001)
• Australian Schools; approximately 10% of students from
Years 4-9 report being bullied most days with 25% of students
reporting being bullied every few weeks or more. (Cross et al.,
2009).
• New Zealand Schools; 6% of student report being bullied
weekly or more often, 5% of students report bullying other
students at least weekly (Denny et al.,2014)
Australian Definitions of Bullying
• Intentional harm that is repeated over time, and
where there is an imbalance of power between
the bully and victim (Rigby & Smith, 2011)
• For the purpose of my study bullying will be
defined as;
“Bullying is when a person is ignored, left out on
purpose, or not allowed to join in; hit kicked or pushed
around; has lies or nasty stories told about them to make
other kids not like them; is made afraid of getting hurt
and/or made fun of and teased in a mean and hurtful
way.” (D.Cross, et al 2011)
Australian Intervention Programs
Although most schools are involved in programs
addressing the issue of bullying there are limited
numbers of empirically evaluated programs.
• The Friendly Schools Project for primary school
children using a whole school approach (Cross, et al., 2011)
• The Beyond Bullying Secondary Program; An
innovative program empowering teachers to
counteract bullying in schools ( Parada, R. H. & Craven, R.
G., 2008)
• A New South Wales Study involving a single
secondary school (Peterson & Rigby, 1999)
Impact of Bullying
• There are a range of psychological and physical
symptoms associated with bullying
• Both bully and victim are at greater risk of
developing severe adjustment problems that
may persist into adulthood.
Impact of Bully-Victim Role
Adolescents in the role of bully-victim are the most
severely rejected by their peers, and display
serious adjustment problems with more;
- externalizing behaviors
- internalizing behaviors
- psychosomatic behaviors
than either those in the role of bully or victim.
(Kumpulinen et al., 1998)
Impact of Bully Role
• Adolescents that bully tend to have a range of
externalizing problems;
e.g., alcohol and cigarette abuse, vandalism
and stealing
• Bullies are more likely to have attention deficit
disorder and suffer depression into adulthood
(Kumpulinen et al., 1998, Riittakerttu et al., 1999)
Impact of the Victim Role
• Victims of bullying are more likely to be unhappy
and absent from school than non-victims.
• Suffer from low self-esteem, insecurity,
depression, suicidal ideation.
• Suffer from a range of psychosomatic symptoms
including sleep difficulties, bed wetting,
headaches and stomach aches.
( Forero et al., 1999; Kumpulinen et al., 1998)
Cyberbullying
• Cyberbullying or bullying using the Internet or mobile is a
form of bullying that includes both direct and indirect
aggressive components. ( Dooley, Pyzalski & Cross, 2009)
• Cyberbullying victimisation is significantly related to school
problems, shoplifting, carrying a weapon and running away
from home. (Hinduja & Patchin, 2007, 2008)
• Australian study including 7,200 secondary students found
7% were cyberbullied frequently, 4% cyberbullied others
frequently and 2% reported frequent cybervictimisation
perpetration. (Cross et al., 2009)
• Cybervictimisation more prevalent for females and
cyberperpetration more prevalent for males (Cross et al.,
2009)
Current Interventions
• Have limited success
• CBT doesn’t necessary suit all students
• Whole school approach varying degrees of
success
• Different approaches required
• Psychodrama is able to work more directly with
different roles involved in bullying
Peer Roles
Bullying frequently occurs in front of peers and
often develops into a group process.
• Peers are present 88% of the time
• Intervening occurs only 19% of the time
(Hawkins, Pepler & Craig, 2001)
• Six distinct participant roles have been identified;
the bully, victim, assistant, reinforcer, defender
and outsider. (Salmivalli, 1996)
• Bystander roles are now recognized as key roles
for changing bullying behaviour (Salmivalli,1996)
Psychodrama
• Psychodrama is a group action method that was
developed by Jacob Moreno in early 1900s.
• Embedded in this therapeutic technique is the
concept of role development.
• Roles develop at different stages in a person’s
life in response to situations, environment and
people that surround them.
Sociodrama
• Is a variation of psychodrama that deals with the
collective roles
• A group member is chosen to represent a
collective role, e.g., the role of the bully
• The scene is structured and enacted
• The drama can be frozen and roles can be
examined. All group members can experience
all roles involved.
Psychodrama and Adolescents
• Psychodrama has successfully been used with
adolescents in various setting;
- group settings working with
depression, anxiety, trauma (Cossa, 2006)
- individually dealing with a range
of problems
(Colwell, 2004)
- in school settings dealing with
bullying (Browne, 1999; McKimmie, 1999)
Research Proposal
• Victorian high schools are currently struggling
with the issue of bullying
• Bullying is often a group process
• Psychodrama is often a group process
• Psychodrama allows the development of new
perspectives, insights and new roles
• Psychodrama may be an effective intervention
with bullying?
Proposed Intervention
• Initially a pilot project with a group of Year 7
students followed by a program run across an
entire year level
• A series of 4 sessions targeting bystander
behavior
• Data collected pre and post intervention, with the
possibility of a focus group
Program Sessions
Session One
• Introduction to roles
- Spectrogram
- 5 things you know about bullying
- Video
- Discussion with focus on bystander
Session Two
• The value of the bystander
– Discussion re bully/victim focus
– Video with new focus
– Bystander pitfalls
– Role play around school yard bullying
– Cyberbully role play
Session Three
• Activating the bystander
– Concretize internal conflict
– Cyberbullying what makes a difference?
how are bystander roles played out?
Consequences?
Session Four
• Consolidation of learning
– Revisit bystander roles
– Ethical Protector, values and beliefs associated with role
– Development of catch phrase
– Postcard to self
Proposed Research Questions
• Is psychodrama a useful intervention for reducing
bullying in a Victorian secondary school?
• Is psychodrama an effective intervention for
reducing rates of cyberbullying in Year 7 students?
• Does the intervention have an effect on student
self-efficacy?
• Does the intervention have an effect on student
mental health?
• Does the intervention have an effect on
bystander behavior?
Outcome Measures
• Not finalised as yet
• Bullying Participant Behaviors Questionnaire
(BPBQ). 50 items focused on participant roles
(Demaray, etal., 2014)
• Short version, 14 items, of DASS-21 focused on
depression and anxiety (Szabo, 2010)
• Cyberbullying measure
• Self- efficacy measure
• Searching for a suitable psychodrama measure
Items from the BPBQ
• Bully
I have tried to make people dislike another student
I have said bad things about another student
I have thrown things at another student
I have stolen from another student
• Assistant
I have made fun of someone when they were pushed, punched or
slapped
When someone else tripped another student on purpose, I laughed
When someone else was verbally threatening another student, I joined
in
When someone else threw something at another student I joined in
(Demaray, etal., 2014:15)
• Victim
I have been made fun of
I have been ignored
I have been pushed or shoved
I have been threatened by others
• Defender
I helped someone who was purposely tripped
I defended someone who had things purposely taken from them
I defended someone who was being pushed, punched, or slapped
I tried to become friends with someone after they were picked on
Outsider
I pretended not to notice when someone else tripped another student
on purpose
I ignored it when someone threw something at another student
I pretended not to notice when someone was destroying another
student’s property
I pretended not to notice when things were taken or stolen from another
student (Demaray, etal., 2014:16)
DASS-21 Questions
• Depression
I felt I wasn’t worth much as a person
I felt that life was meaningless
I felt that there was nothing to look forward to
I was unable to become enthusiastic about anything
I felt down hearted and blue
• Anxiety
I felt close to panic
I felt scared without any god reason
I experienced trembling in (e.g., in the hands)
I felt like I was going to panic and make a fool of myself (Szabo, 2010:5)
Perceived Challenges
•
•
•
•
•
•
Use of appropriate measures
Ensuring measures aren’t lengthy
Focus groups
Embedding intervention within school curriculum
Recruitment of numbers
Restructuring of groups
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