Staff Reports of Bullying and Intervention Strategies in Residential Care for Youth

• In Event: Institutional Corrections: Policies and Practices

Abstract

This study assessed how residential care staff viewed the nature and prevalence of bullying in their facilities and what anti-bullying strategies they used. The study compared staff reports on bullying with: a) residents' own self-reported prevalence of bullying and victimization collected in the same study; and b) evidence-based proposed policy solutions arising from residents' reports. One hundred and forty staff from 20 Croatian children's homes and correctional homes completed an anonymous questionnaire. The results demonstrated that the majority of staff believed that bullying was a serious problem in their facility. However, staff estimates of the prevalence of bullying and victimization were significantly lower than residents' reports. Staff were better aware of the prevalence of certain types of bullying, but they held stereotypical views of bullies and victims and had difficulties recognizing true times and places of bullying. Staff described their current efforts in combating bullying as being predominantly reactive and intuitive, rather than proactive and evidence-based. Staff also suggested that more punitive situational strategies are needed to improve current anti-bullying strategies. It is concluded that more effort needs to be made in order to change the current anti-bullying policies used by staff, which seem to be intuitive, rather than evidence-based.

Authors

• Ivana Sekol, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia

• David Farrington, Cambridge University