Awareness, Policy, Privacy, and More: Post-Secondary Students Voice Their Solutions to Cyberbullying

Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ. 2020 Aug 20;10(3):795-815. doi: 10.3390/ejihpe10030058.

Abstract

This paper discusses solutions to cyberbullying posed by post-secondary students from four Canadian universities. The qualitative data used in this analysis were drawn from one open-ended question on an online student survey completed by 1458 undergraduate students, as well as 10 focus group transcripts involving a total of 36 students. Seven key themes emerged: awareness and education; policy; protecting one's privacy; technology-based solutions; empowering better choices and responses; university culture; and disciplinary measures. The findings show that post-secondary institutions need to make preventing and curtailing cyberbullying more of a priority within their campus communities, including engaging in responsive consultation with key stakeholder groups, such as students, to develop meaningful solutions.

Keywords: anonymity; awareness; campus culture; cyberbullying; education; policy; post-secondary; privacy; solutions.