Bullying Interventions: A Systematic Review of Iranian Research

Bullying is a widespread and serious problem in the field of psycho-social health that affects people of different age groups in different cultures. So far, various interventions have been presented to deal with this social pathology.

The current study aimed to conduct a systematic review of interventions addressing both traditional and cyber forms of bullying and victimization within Iran's general populace.

Adhering to PRISMA, this systematic review canvassed clinical trials on bullying published in online databases (Magiran, Noormags, SID) from 2003 to 2024. Searches employed a combination of terms including "Bullying, "harassment, "cyberbullying, "traditional bullying, " and "cyber harassment". Out of 403 articles published, 90 met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed based on general characteristics, sample group, follow-up duration, research design, outcomes, and intervention types.

Analysis revealed a predominant concentration on traditional bullying, with comparatively less attention given to interventions for cyber bullying or victimization. The study identified that all interventions were cross-sectional, centering on data from self-assessment reports. A majority of these interventions targeted adolescents, particularly high school students. Furthermore, life skills training and emotion regulation-based interventions emerged as the most prevalent and widely implemented strategies for addressing bullying across various age groups.

Overall, the findings highlight the imperative for longitudinal research and the development of bullying prevention programs, with a particular focus on cyberbullying and victimization among university student and young child demographics, as well as in diverse settings such as the workplace. The study also advocates for the utilization of varied data collection methodologies to more precisely comprehend and effectively address the bullying phenomenon.