An App-Based Intervention for Adolescents Exposed to Cyberbullying in Norway: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled...

Adolescents exposed to negative online events are at high risk to develop mental health problems. Little is known about what is effective for treatment in this group. NettOpp is a new mobile app for adolescents who have been exposed to cyberbullying or negative online experiences in Norway.

The aim of this paper is to provide a description of the content of the intervention and about a randomized controlled trial that will be conducted to examine the effectiveness of NettOpp. This protocol is written in accordance with the Spirit 2013 Checklist.

An effectiveness study with a follow-up examination after 3 months will be conducted to evaluate the mobile app. Adolescents will be recruited through schools and will be randomly assigned to the intervention (NettOpp) group and a waiting-list control group. The adolescents (aged 11 to 16 years) will respond to self-report questionnaires on the internet. Primary outcomes will be changes in mental health assessed with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, the WHO-Five Well-being Index, and the Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen.

Recruitment will start in January 2022. The results from this study will be available in 2023.

There are few published evaluation studies on app-based interventions. This project and its publications will contribute new knowledge to the field.

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04176666; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04176666.

PRR1-10.2196/31789.