MSc research project proposal
July 2011
Developing a questionnaire to examine the psychological constructs
associated with being a bullied child.
Bullying, which affects a significant minority of school aged children, is both prevalent
and damaging and predicts depression, anxiety, loneliness and low self-esteem in
adulthood (Hanish & Guerra,’02). At Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, we work
with children who have a variety of congenital visible differences; these children are at
increased risk of bullying and are more likely to be the target of aggressive behaviours
(Van Cleave and Davis, ’06).
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has significant success in treating problems
associated with low mood, social anxiety, poor self esteem and low confidence as a
result of looking different and we are developing a new questionnaire based on CBT
principles to look at the psychological correlates of being bullied to inform and direct
subsequent therapy.
Preliminary tests of validation have been completed and the questionnaire shows
construct and convergent validity, differentiating bullied from non-bullied children.
We now need to continue the validation and offer 2 projects:
1. To do a test-retest reliability study on a large sample of school children.
2. To collect and analyse data on a sub sample of children who are known to
be bullied, by accessing community services that support bullied children.
For more information, please contact: Dr Lindsey Edwards or Dr Jo Shearer or Kristina
Soon or Dr Natasha Rooney or Daniela Hearst on 0207 829 8896 or by email:
Lindsey.Edwards@gosh.nhs.uk
Joanna.Shearer@gosh.nhs.uk
Natasha.Rooney@gosh.nhs.uk
Daniela.Hearst@gosh.nhs.uk