What Do We Know about Bullying in Schoolchildren with Disabilities? A Systematic Review of Recent Work

Daniel Falla,José A Casas,Sergio Sánchez

doi:10.3390/su13010416

Abstract

Bullying is a serious problem that particularly affects schoolchildren with disabilities. However, studies in this group have been carried out on smaller cohorts and the results obtained are, therefore, less representative and sometimes inconclusive. The purpose of this paper is to perform a systematic review of the work carried out in recent years, including the analysis of several variables related to the sample, the methodology applied and the type of bullying. The guidelines set down by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement were followed in three phases. The total sample consisted of 55 children who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The results reveal that half the studies were conducted in cohorts of less than 250 schoolchildren and drew no distinctions between the different types of disabilities. Furthermore, there is no consensus regarding the methodology used, and no specialized instruments were used. Hardly any specific interventions have been performed into the type of bullying investigated, in which victimization is the predominant mode. We concluded that there is an urgent need to increase the number of studies, including a larger number of individuals and using specialized instruments, in order to obtain more solid results. Such studies will allow us to create specific prevention and intervention programs to address the bullying of schoolchildren with disabilities.

Highlights

Bullying, which is a type of violence among peers, is expressed by physical, psychological or relational abuse, in which the bully’s actions are clearly intentional
The objective of this study was to find out how research into bullying in disabled studies has been carried out over recent years
A systematic review of papers published between 2011 and 2019, both inclusive, was carried out following the PRISMA criteria and using inclusion criteria that helped guarantee the quality of the selected documents

Summary

Introduction

Bullying, which is a type of violence among peers, is expressed by physical, psychological or relational abuse, in which the bully’s actions are clearly intentional. Bullies take advantage of the unequal power status over their victims, who suffer this abuse over an extended period of time [1]. It is a complex, immoral phenomenon which affects children all over the world and has a prevalence of around 36% (see meta-analysis by [2]). Immoral phenomenon which affects children all over the world and has a prevalence of around 36% (see meta-analysis by [2]) This social interaction in which schoolchildren are involved can have academic, social and personal consequences, regardless of whether they adopt the role of victims, bullies, bully-victims or witnesses [3]. There could be several reasons for this: firstly, providing them with the necessary support to cover their educational needs is given priority, in order to meet academic targets and have a better chance of inclusion [8]; secondly, the fact that there are fewer researchers specialized in bullying in the field of disability [9]; thirdly, the idiosyncratic characteristics of the students’

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