Testing the effectiveness of an e-course to combat cyberbullying

This study developed and evaluated an innovative six-session constructivist-based anti-cyberbullying e-course to raise Hong Kong college students' awareness of cyberbullying and increase their intention to help cyberbullied victims. A total of 144 undergraduate students (118 female students, 26 male students; M_age = 21.05, SD = 2.19) from a Hong Kong university were randomly assigned to an intervention (n = 78) or control (n = 66) group. The intervention group participated in two 15-minute anti-cyberbullying online classes per week for 3 weeks. Participants in both groups completed five measures at the outset (T1) and end (T2, 5 weeks after the program): about their awareness of cyberbullying, likelihood, and intention to help victims, and self-efficacy to combat cyberbullying. At T1, there were no significant group differences on the five measures. Controlling for time spent on social networking sites, and previous involvement in cyberbullying, repeated-measures analyses of covariance revealed significant interaction effects for all five measures. Subsequent analyses indicated the intervention group had higher scores on the five measures than the control group. These findings show how the constructivist e-learning program promotes prosocial behavior and can reduce cyberbullying by challenging students' understanding of cyberaggression. Copyright © 2019 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.