Can teachers reduce school bullying and its mental health consequences? Randomized controlled trial with an intervention promoting positive teacher-student interactions

 Being bullied at school seriously undermines mental health on the short and long run. Teachers have the potential to be key players in preventing and reducing bullying through their daily interactions with students and their reactions to bullying. However, many teachers do not fully assume this role. This randomized controlled trial study aims at investigating whether a straightforward intervention focused on teachers’ general interactions with students and their specific interventions in bullying situations 1) impacts teacher cognitions, e.g., promotes anti-bullying attitudes, 2) promotes positive teacher-student interactions and teachers’ effective reactions to bullying incidents, 3) reduces student bullying, and 4) promotes (victimized) students’ mental health. Ten schools, 60 teachers and 1200 students from Grade 4-6 are recruited. Schools are randomly assigned to an intervention condition and a control condition. Teacher and student reports are administered pre- and posttest and data are analyzed with An(c)ova and multilevel modelling. This study contributes to 1) the very scarce experimental evidence and theory-building about teachers’ influence on student bullying and victims’ mental health and 2) the availability of effective, feasible, and scalable interventions for reducing bullying at school and promoting children’s mental health