The impact of a bullying awareness programme for primary school teachers: a cluster randomised controlled trial in Dhaka, Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

Many anti-bullying programmes use teachers in the critical role of provider, yet few trials focus on enhancing their ability to fulfil this role. As teachers’ readiness may impact on the effectiveness of anti-bullying programmes, the aim of this study was to evaluate an awareness programme for primary school teachers in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A 2 (group) x 3 (time) Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial was conducted sampling six clusters (3 control with 56 teachers, 3 intervention with 60 teachers). Four 2-h sessions were conducted weekly. Effectiveness was measured using questionnaires at pre-test (1 week pre-programme), post-test (1week post-programme) and follow-up (4 months later). They assessed the definition of and perceptions of bullying, intentions to act and actions taken against bullying. All constructs except the latter improved significantly for the intervention group relative to the control group. It is argued that bullying policies should be introduced that include regular in-service teacher training.

KEYWORDS:

• School bullying
• Bangladesh
• cluster randomised controlled trial
• primary school teachers
• perceptions of bullying
• in-service training

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Notes on contributors

Most. Aeysha Sultana

Most. Aeysha Sultana is an educational psychologist who recently completed her PhD in Public Health at Flinders University, of which this study was a component. She has returned Bangladesh to continue her teaching, research and advocacy against school bullying.

Paul R. Ward

Paul R. Ward is a Professor and Head of the Discipline of Public Health at Flinders University. His background is medical sociology, geography and health services research. Paul’s main research interests are socio-spatial inequalities and inequities in health, medicine usage and the provision of health and social care.

Malcolm J. Bond

Malcolm J. Bond is an applied health psychologist at Flinders University with expertise in social cognition, attitude change, research methodology and quantitative statistics. His multidisciplinary research spans caregiver well-being, stress, adaptation to chronic disease, somatization, and health-related motivation and decision-making.