Bully Prevention: Classroom-Curriculum and Virtual Reality Experience

Introduction: A recent study by Yeager et al. (2015) found that once students reach 8th grade (age 13-14), anti-bullying programs drop to zero efficacy or increase the incidence of bullying. However, emergent media affords new solutions to seemingly intractable problems. For example, virtual learning experiences has shown to promising approaches to reduce youth bullying when embedded in one larger Finnish curriculum (Kärnä et al., 2013). To our knowledge, no studies have combined bully prevention curricula and immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences to evaluate changes in attitudes and behaviors related to bullying. Therefore, this pilot test with address this gap by providing powerful immersive and emotionally affecting experiences through VR experiences related to youth bullying. The piloted VR experiences are products of Virtual Reality Action Lab, a media making program resulting from a collaborative partnership between Harmony Labs, Google, Screenwriters Colony and Sensorium Works. We believe that individuals that might be resistant to traditionally presented bullying materials might be willing to engage when they are presented in VR. Also, because a VR experience is a private one (an observer does not know what the viewer is seeing on the screen), the viewers will be free to engage with the experience sincerely and thoughtfully.

Methods: Six 7^th grade classrooms in two participating middle schools will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions: 1) Immediate implementation - Classroom Bully Prevention Curriculum + Google VR experience (three scenarios integrated into lessons) and 2) Delayed implementation of the same material. Students (50 students at each middle school) will complete measures (attitudes, behaviors related to bullying) at three time points (pre-, immediate post, and delayed post). Measures will also assess reactions to the Google VR experience (post-only). Students will complete self-report measures of bullying attitudes, behaviors, and bystander behaviors and measures after each VR experience. Intervention components include six sessions of bullying prevention curriculum with three VR embedded, the VR experiences are scripted adaptations of realistic scenarios related to chronic victimization, gender-based harassment, and bystander intervention.

Results: Repeated ANOVAS will be used to analysis survey data to test for intervention effects. This study will run from November 2017 through February 2018.

Conclusions: Increasingly, bully prevention programs are incorporating innovative technologies to improve efficacy and sustainability. This pilot study of VR is an excellent example of this type innovation and could have significant impacts on addressing the public health issue of bullying.