Cyberbullying, Empathy, and Storytelling in Adolescents

March 24, 2026 updated by: Sultan Ayaz Alkaya, Gazi University

The Effect of Storytelling on Cyberbullying and Empathy in Adolescents

This randomized controlled experimental study examined the effect of a storytelling intervention on cyberbullying and empathy levels in adolescents. The study population consisted of 5th- and 6th-grade middle school students, and the sample included students involved in cyberbullying. Participants were allocated to intervention and control groups using stratified randomization by gender. The intervention group received four storytelling sessions, whereas no intervention was delivered to the control group during the study period. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, post-test, 3-month follow-up, and 6-month follow-up. After the study was completed, the control group was provided with cyberbullying education. The study investigated whether the intervention led to differences between groups in cyberbullying and empathy levels.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

71

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Turkey (Türkiye)
      • Kütahya, Turkey (Türkiye)
        • A public middle school affiliated with the Kütahya Provincial Directorate of National Education

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Family approval
  • Volunteering to participate in the study.
  • Being a 5th and 6th grade student
  • Engaging in cyberbullying behavior

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Having a diagnosis of any mental illness
  • Having at least one of vision, speech and hearing disabilities
  • Foreign nationality
  • Being a 7th and 8th grade student
  • Not engaging in cyberbullying behavior

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Storytelling Grup
Participants will receive 4 sessions of storytelling intervention with expert reviewed stories.
Behavioral: Storytelling
It is aimed that adolescents gain behavioral change through stories.
No Intervention: Control Group
Participants in the control group received no intervention during the study period. Data were collected concurrently with the intervention group. After study completion, the control group received cyberbullying education.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
cyberbullying
Time Frame: 6 months
It is expected that cyberbullying will decrease with storytelling. These measurements will be made with the Cyberbullying Triangle Scale. Cyberbullying Triangle Scale and Bullying, Victimization and Cyber Bystander subscales will be used in the evaluation. The assessment is done by categorizing students into various categories. These categories are: "not involved in cyberbullying, only cyber victim, only cyber bully, only cyber bystander, cyber bully and cyber victim, cyber bystander and cyber victim, cyber bystander and cyber bully, cyber bully, cyber victim and cyber bystander".
6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
empathy
Time Frame: 6 months
Empathy parameter is expected to increase with storytelling. Empathy will be assessed with the Cognitive, Affective, Behavioral Empathy Scale. The Empathy Scale consists of 30 questions and three sub-factors: cognitive, affective and bodily empathy. The scale has a 3-point Likert (0 and 2) type rating. The score that can be obtained from the scale varies between 0 and 60 and the higher the score, the higher the empathy tendency.
6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Gazi University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 30, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

July 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 6, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 12, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

July 18, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 27, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 24, 2026

Last Verified

July 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2023 - 1571

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Cyberbullying

Clinical Trials on Storytelling

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Mongolia

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe