High School Teachers\u27 Perceptions of Cyberbullying Prevention and Intervention Strategies

Cyberbullying is a psychologically devastating form of social cruelty that has become a matter of life or death. This study investigated the extent that teachers can identify cyberbullying and examined their use of prevention strategies that aid in decreasing this crisis. The variables addressed include teachers’ general attitudes regarding cyberbullying, the intervention strategies that are most effective when addressing cyberbullying, and the effectiveness of specific strategies. The participants were 82 high school teachers who were administered the High School Teacher’s Perception of Cyberbullying Prevention and Intervention Strategies Questionnaire during the 2017-2018 school year. Demographic statistics of the teachers included 87 general education teachers, 23 special education teachers, and 24 career and technical education teachers. The research questions were interpreted using a descriptive summary based on a Likert-scale anchor point explanation. The results indicated that understanding teachers’ attitudes toward cyberbullying and considering student needs provided schools with vital information that was beneficial in creating successful cyberbullying prevention programs. The hypotheses were examined using a chi-square analysis. The results indicated that there was not a statistically significant difference in teachers’ general attitudes regarding cyberbullying according to the group of students supervised. These findings suggest that there was a need for increased training on how to identify and combat cyberbullying. For future research, it is recommended that schools replicate this study using schools within and outside of the participating school district. Lastly, future studies should identify more strategies that assist in examining what can be done to decrease or eliminate cyberbullying in schools