Technology-Based Bullying Intervention for Rural Schools: Perspectives on Needs, Challenges, and Design

Bullying is a significant problem in the United States, with 26.7% of middle school students reporting bullying victimization. The majority of bullying programs are comprehensive, school-wide interventions that require significant resources for implementation, creating barriers and challenges for schools in rural and low-income communities. To increase access for these schools, we propose to translate a brief, bystander bullying intervention (STAC) into a technology-based format. Using consensual qualitative research (CQR), we aimed to understand the needs of school personnel and perceived challenges to program implementation to provide information on how to best serve middle schools in rural and low-income communities. We conducted interviews and focus groups with key school personnel at three middle schools in rural, low-income communities (N = 15). Participants indicated a strong interest in a technology-based bullying intervention and reported positive conditions for implementation including administrative support and technology-readiness. Participants identified program efficacy, flexibility of delivery, and parental involvement as important components of bullying prevention and identified implementation challenges, which included time, financial resources, and teacher buy-in. Perceived strengths of the STAC intervention included providing a clear definition of bullying, skills training and practice, and a certificate of completion. Feedback related to translating the intervention to a technology-based format included the use of virtual interaction and a hybrid virtual/in-person program, particularly for booster-sessions. Findings from this study support the need for the proposed technology-based STAC intervention and provide feedback on both the needs and challenges that need to be addressed for successful implementation in middle schools in rural and low-income communities.