Nurse-Led Take a SELSTEP Program on Peer Bullying, Victimization, and Bystander Behavior Among Adolescents (Take a SELSTEP)

June 22, 2026 updated by: Marmara University

The Effect of Nurse-Led Social Emotional Learning Program on Adolescents' Bullying, Victimization, and Bystander Behaviors

This randomized controlled trial will evaluate the effect of a nurse-led social emotional learning (SEL) program on bullying, victimization, and bystander behaviors among adolescents. The study will be conducted in two public middle schools in Istanbul, Türkiye, with students in grades 6-8. Participants in the intervention group will receive structured SEL sessions designed to enhance emotional regulation, empathy, and problem-solving skills, while the control group will continue with routine education. Outcomes will be measured using validated scales at baseline, three months, and six months after the intervention.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

School violence is observed at all levels of education, but it is particularly prominent during middle school, which coincides with early adolescence. While violence tends to increase in primary school and decrease in higher grades of high school, no significant differences are observed between grade levels in middle school. Bullying has multiple negative consequences: for perpetrators, it is associated with suicide, weapon carrying, substance use disorders, and a tendency toward violence and criminal behavior in adulthood; for victims, it is linked to low self-esteem, anxiety disorders, and suicide. Due to these multifaceted negative effects, bullying prevention programs must be implemented as public health interventions. This study aims to evaluate the effect of a nurse-led, social emotional learning (SEL)-based education program on bullying, victimization, and bystander behaviors among adolescents attending grades 6, 7, and 8 in middle schools. Unlike many previous studies, this program not only seeks to reduce bullying and victimization but also aims to enhance bystander intervention. Furthermore, the intervention will be uniquely delivered by a nurse with a focus on fostering social emotional skills.This randomized controlled trial will be conducted between October 2025 and June 2026 in two public middle schools located in the Ümraniye district of Istanbul, Türkiye. The study will follow a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up test design with intervention and control groups. Randomization will be applied to ensure comparability, and participants with similar pre-test characteristics will be assigned to either group. The intervention group will receive the SEL-based training program, while the control group will continue with routine education. Post-tests will be conducted three months after the intervention, and follow-up assessments will be carried out at six months. Data will be collected in classrooms through face-to-face self-report surveys. Instruments include the Personal Information Form, Bullying Victimization Self-Efficacy Scale, Bullying and Cyberbullying Scale for Adolescents, Bystander Intervention in Bullying Scale, and Social Emotional Learning Skills Scale.Data entry will be performed electronically, and statistical analyses will be conducted using Jamovi. Tests appropriate for normal distribution will be used. A significance level of p < 0.05 will be considered statistically significant.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

210

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

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:

  • Students enrolled in 6th, 7th, or 8th grade during the study period
  • Students whose parents/legal guardians provide consent for participation
  • Students who volunteer to participate in the study
  • Students without communication barriers

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Students who provide incomplete data in the pre-test, post-test, or follow-up assessments
  • Students who do not fully participate in the intervention program
  • Students with insufficient cognitive level to complete the study requirements

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: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention Group
Students in the experimental group will participate in a structured six-week nurse-led social emotional learning intervention. The program comprises animations, an website, and a variety of learning activities designed to enhance emotional and social skills.
Other: Nurse-Led Take a SELSTEP Program
Nurse-Led Take a SELSTEP Program will be implemented in the intervention group once a week for six weeks. The program was developed based on the principles of social emotional learning. Each week addresses one of the five core components of social emotional learning: self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness. The education will be delivered using various instructional methods, including lectures, problem-solving, question-and-answer, group discussions, case studies, scenario-based learning, gamification, and brainstorming. A range of audio-visual materials will be utilized, such as computers, projectors, presentation screens, speakers, remote controls, posters, brochures, videos, colored papers, educational booklets, and magazines. Additionally, scenarios prepared for the education program have been transformed into animations, and a dedicated website has been developed to support the intervention.
No Intervention: Control Group
Students in this group will continue their routine school curriculum without receiving the SEL-based program.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Bullying and Cyberbullying Scale for Adolescents
Time Frame: Baseline (pre-test), 3 months (post-test), 6 months (follow-up)
The Bullying and Cyberbullying Scale for Adolescents (BCS-A) was originally developed by Thomas et al. (2019) and adapted into Turkish by Özbey and Başdaş (2020). The scale consists of two parallel forms measuring bullying and victimization experiences of adolescents during the past three months. Each form includes four subscales: physical, verbal, relational, and cyber. The scale has 26 items in total. Subscale scores are calculated by dividing the sum of the items by the number of items in that subscale. Reported Cronbach's alpha values for the Turkish version range between 0.606-0.806 for the victimization subscale and 0.616-0.815 for the bullying subscale.
Baseline (pre-test), 3 months (post-test), 6 months (follow-up)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Bystander Intervention in Bullying Scale
Time Frame: Baseline (pre-test), 3 months (post-test), 6 months (follow-up)
The scale was originally developed by Nickerson et al. (2014) to assess the level of bystander intervention in bullying situations. The Turkish adaptation was conducted by Demirbaş and Öztemel (2019). It consists of 16 items rated on a five-point Likert scale, covering five subdimensions: Noticing the Event, Interpreting the Event as Urgent, Accepting Responsibility to Help, Deciding How to Intervene, and Implementing the Decision to Intervene. Total scores range from 16 to 80, with higher scores indicating a greater likelihood of bystander intervention. Reported internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.88 for the overall scale, 0.60 for Noticing the Event, 0.78 for Interpreting as Urgent, 0.67 for Accepting Responsibility, 0.75 for Deciding How to Intervene, and 0.78 for Implementing the Decision.
Baseline (pre-test), 3 months (post-test), 6 months (follow-up)
Bullying Victimization Self-Efficacy Scale
Time Frame: Baseline (pre-test), 3 months (post-test), 6 months (follow-up)
The Bullying Victimization Self-Efficacy Scale was originally developed by Kim et al. (2010) to assess students' self-efficacy in coping with bullying. The scale consists of 16 items across two subdimensions: Social Resources and Action. It is a five-point Likert-type scale (1 = Not sure, 5 = Very sure). The overall scale showed a Cronbach's alpha of 0.93. The Turkish adaptation was carried out by the researchers with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.88.
Baseline (pre-test), 3 months (post-test), 6 months (follow-up)
Social Emotional Learning Skills Scale
Time Frame: Baseline (pre-test), 3 months (post-test), 6 months (follow-up)
The Social Emotional Learning Skills Scale was developed by Kabakçı and Owen (2010) based on the framework of social emotional learning. The scale consists of 40 items across four factors: Problem-Solving Skills, Communication Skills, Self-Enhancing Skills, and Coping with Stress Skills. It is a four-point Likert-type scale, with total scores ranging from 40 to 160. Higher scores indicate greater proficiency in social emotional learning skills. In the original reliability study conducted with 597 participants, Cronbach's alpha was 0.88 for the overall scale, 0.80 for Problem-Solving, 0.70 for Communication, 0.79 for Self-Enhancing, and 0.69 for Coping with Stress.
Baseline (pre-test), 3 months (post-test), 6 months (follow-up)

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Marmara University

Collaborators

Marmara University, Scientific Research Projects Committee

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Esma Akgul, MSc, RN, Marmara University
  • Study Chair: Ayse Ergun, Prof, RN, Marmara University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

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)

October 3, 2025

Primary Completion (Actual)

February 15, 2026

Study Completion (Actual)

May 15, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 20, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 20, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

January 28, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 25, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 22, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 28.06.2024- 68

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

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.

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