Effectiveness of digital game-based GISCC program on cyberbullying prevention among Chinese adolescents

Background The increasing use of social networking sites has increased the efficiency of social interactions but inevitably contributed to the risk of cyberbullying. Despite evidence of the effectiveness of offline intervention programs for cyberbullying, few have examined online interventions, especially in the Chinese context. Objective This study aims to develop and validate an innovative Game-based Intervention for School- and Cyberbullying for Children (GISCC), which combines training on psychosocial and behavioral components with interactive role-play games. Participants and setting A randomized trial method was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the GISCC intervention, comprising 105 Chinese adolescents who were randomly assigned to the experimental (n = 55) and control (n = 50) groups. Methods Independent sample t-test, paired-samples t-test, ANCOVA, and MANCOVA were used to test the differences in the trained components before and after the intervention. Results The results showed that the GISCC intervention significantly reduced cyberbullying behaviors (F = 37.50, p