Helen Monks

Three‐year results of the Friendly Schools whole‐of‐school intervention on children’s bullying behaviour

A group randomized controlled trial tested the efficacy of the Friendly Schools program to reduce student bullying behaviour. This socio‐ecological intervention targeted the whole school, classroom, family, and individual students to reduce bullying behaviour. Self‐report data were collected in 29 schools over three years from a cohort of 1968 eight to nine‐year‐olds. Surveys measured frequency of being bullied, bullying others, telling if bullied and observing bullying. Results indicate that intervention students were significantly less likely to observe bullying at 12, 24 and 36 months and be bullied after 12 and 36 months, and significantly more likely to tell if bullied after 12 months than comparison students. No differences were found for self‐reported perpetration of bullying. The findings suggest whole‐of‐school programs that engage students in their different social contexts appear to reduce their experiences of being bullied and increase their likelihood of telling someone if they are bullied.

National Safe Schools Framework: Policy and practice to reduce bullying in Australian schools

In 2003 Australia was one of the first countries to develop an integrated national policy, called the National Safe Schools Framework (NSSF), for the prevention and management of violence, bullying, and other aggressive behaviors. The effectiveness of this framework has not yet been formally evaluated. Cross-sectional data collected in 2007 from 7,418 students aged 9 to 14 years old and 453 teachers from 106 representative Australian schools were analyzed to determine teachers’ perceptions about the extent of implementation of the NSSF, teachers’ capacity to address student bullying, and students’ reports of bullying in their school, 4 years following the framework’s dissemination. While methodological issues limit the findings, schools appear not to have widely implemented the recommended safe school practices, teachers appear to need more training to address bullying, especially covert bullying, and bullying prevalence among students seems relatively unchanged compared to Australian data collected 4 years prior to the launch of the NSSF.

Cyberbullying in Australia: Is School Context Related to Cyberbullying Behavior

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) permeate all aspects of society in Australia. Since the introduction of the Internet into Australia some 20 years ago the majority of Australian households (72% in 2008 – 2009) have access to the Internet (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009). By mid-2009 over 24 million active mobile phones services were used in Australia, more than one phone per person (Australian Communications and Media Authority, 2010). Increasingly young people are entering the mobile phone market with 76% of 12 to 14 year olds having their own phone (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010). Despite the infiltration of mobile phones into the youth market, the majority of phone contact (60%) made is to family members rather than peers (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009).

The Ripple Effect: Promoting a Supportive Secondary School Culture by Mobilising Bystanders to Bullying

Moral distress is defined as “arising when one knows the right thing to do but institutional constraints prevent one from taking the right action” (Jameton, 1984). This phenomenon has been explored in the contemporary literature and identifies significant impacts for health practitioners, patients, and health professions. Case study methodology will be engaged to explore moral distress in the context of the multidisciplinary team providing care to patients at the end of life. This context is one in which there are many decision-making points, and current literature shows that it is an area of moral distress, often arising from the performance of unnecessary tests and treatments to patients and the conflict between family and health practitioners. The themes emerging from the literature reviewed included the effects of moral distress on practitioners, patients, and the professions. Health practitioners suffered physical and psychological symptoms and disengagement. Patients suffered, as practitioners disengaged and lacked care and compassion. The profession suffered, as practitioners left the professions or sought out positions with less patient contact. There has been little research to date on moral distress in the Australian health system and in the context of the multidisciplinary team. The outcomes of this research intend to highlight the gaps in identifying how moral distress is experienced within the multidisciplinary teams working within the Australian health-care system and caring for patients at the end-of-life phase.; ;

5. Cyberbullying in Australia

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) permeate all aspects of society in Australia. Since the introduction of the Internet into Australia some 20 years ago the majority of Australian households (72% in 2008 – 2009) have access to the Internet (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009). By mid-2009 over 24 million active mobile phones services were used in Australia, more than one phone per person (Australian Communications and Media Authority, 2010). Increasingly young people are entering the mobile phone market with 76% of 12 to 14 year olds having their own phone (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010). Despite the infiltration of mobile phones into the youth market, the majority of phone contact (60%) made is to family members rather than peers (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009).