BULLYING AND CYBERBULLYING AT SCHOOL”: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT A LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL. PSYCHOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS AND TRENDS

This paper describes a pilot action research study conducted at the "Aldo Moro" lower secondary school in Stornarella-Ordona (Foggia, Italy). The study in question involved the whole institute (six classes), as part of an outreach and training course co-managed by the Learning Science Hub research center of the University of Foggia. The main aim of the project was to carry out an intervention that directly involved young people, in a student-centered dynamic. The intervention integrated the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in a cooperative way to raise awareness of bullying and cyberbullying. Motivations and results of the present study align with some recent national legislative provisions put in place to discourage the phenomena, thus responding to a precise need detected by governance and surveying data in a socio-demographic context hitherto little considered in research processes on the topic. The project in question involved the delivery of validated self-report questionnaires to assess the effects of the intervention, namely the Florence Bullying and Victimization Scales (FBVSs) and the Florence Cyberbullying and Victimization Scales (FBCVSs). The present study presents the results of an intervention that integrated the use of ICT, and Digital Storytelling (DST) in particular, with the aim of implementing the intervention research model.