“ Virtual Counseling was a Lifeline”- Lived experiences of Adolescent Cyberbullying Victims on Counselling Intervention during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-4921549/v1

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Research Article

“ Virtual Counseling was a Lifeline”- Lived experiences of Adolescent Cyberbullying Victims on Counselling Intervention during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4921549/v1

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Background

With the proliferation of digital communication platforms and increased screen time during the COVID-19 pandemic, the issue of cyberbullying become a global public health concern among adolescents. The Bangladeshi education system lacks effective cyberbullying intervention and prevention programs in school. Moreover, there is a limited understanding of the impact and meaning of counselling intervention for adolescent cyberbullying victims, even during the pandemic. Therefore, we aimed to conduct a novel study to explore the impact of counselling intervention on cyberbullying victims during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh.

Method

This study employed interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore the subjective experiences of adolescent cyberbullying victims regarding counselling intervention. We conducted semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of ten high school students (seven females and three males, age_mean+SD=15.12± 0.81) who had undergone at least five counselling intervention sessions as victims of cyberbullying during the pandemic. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis to identify recurring patterns and themes concerning cyberbullying experiences and perceived outcomes of counselling intervention.

Results

Five main themes have emerged as a result of the analysis; 1) Sense of intensified emotional and psychological impact. 2) Perceived barriers to seeking counseling in the pandemic, 3) Counselling as a crucial support system, 4) Perceived positive changes of self, and, 5) Long-term impact and sustainability. The study explored the unique challenges posed by the pandemic, which intensified the effects of cyberbullying and required adaptations in counseling approaches. Virtual counseling, despite its limitations, emerged as a vital resource for the participants, highlighting the need for flexible and accessible mental health interventions in the digital age.

Conclusions

This novel study will likely facilitate further longitudinal studies, emphasizing the urgent need to develop effective cyberbullying intervention and prevention programs in schools across Bangladesh and other developing countries.

Educational Psychology

Psychology

cyberbullying

Bangladesh

interpretative phenomenological analysis

COVID-19 pandemic

psychological impact

counselling intervention

Cyberbullying has evolved into a widespread global threat affecting adolescents worldwide. During adolescence, the significance of peer relationships grows (Yau & Reich, 2018), and as a result, young individuals actively pursue connections not only in their physical, face-to-face interactions but also in social media (Mesch, 2009). The widespread use of social media, where adolescents frequently share pictures, videos, and personal updates, increases the risk of their involvement in cyberbullying behaviours (Park et al., 2014). Thus, the definitions describing cyberbullying partly adapt Olweus’ definitional criteria (1994) for traditional Bullying, using ‘imbalance of power,’ ‘intentionality,’ and ‘ repetition’ to differentiate cyber-bullying acts from other types of aggression on the Internet (Arató et al., 2022; Berne et al., 2013; Smith et al., 2008). Further, the definitions of cyberbullying involve specific characteristics such as the unlimited capacity of Internet access, the perpetrator’s anonymity, and the broad audience (Kwan & Skoric, 2013). The most common cyberbullying behaviours encompass activities such as online fighting, harming, denigration, impersonation, deception, exclusion, and cyber-harassment (Makri-Botsari & Karagianni, 2014). In addition, various factors can be potential predictors of cyberbullying, including personality traits, the frequency of social media usage, and the propensity for indiscreet online posting (Giumetti et al., 2022).

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the widespread adoption of online education, which plays a vital role in the increase in cyberbullying. Between March 17, 2020, and September 11, 2021, schools in Bangladesh remained closed for an uninterrupted 543 days, and during this prolonged lockdown, students attended online classes (Rahman et al., 2023). This excessive screen time results in attention deficits, unusual behaviours in the classroom, and a reduction in the time dedicated to studying. This rise can be attributed to the fact that nearly every student was actively engaged in online media and social communication tools like Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber, Emo, and TikTok, which have gained immense popularity among the younger generation (Kee et al., 2022). These instant messaging and social media platforms have become the primary means of interaction, making them both a valuable educational resource and a potential breeding ground for cyberbullying incidents (Sengupta & Chaudhuri, 2011).

The impact of cyberbullying is significant, affecting the mental and physical health of both perpetrators and victims (Albdour et al., 2019), such as anger, anxiety, depression, fear, and shame (Alhujailli et al., 2020). Cybervictims may also exhibit psychosomatic symptoms (Alhujailli et al., 2020; Kowalski & Limber, 2013) and even thoughts of suicide and suicidal behaviors (Bauman et al., 2013). Research has shown that individuals who are targets of cyberbullying often experience more severe distress and are at a higher risk of suicide than those who experience traditional forms of Bullying in a school setting (Yang et al., 2021). Victims of cyberbullying cannot concentrate on their academics due to high emotional stress, which harms their academic achievement (Faryadi, 2011). In Bangladesh, a significantly higher proportion of psychiatric disorders was found among Cyberbully victims than among non-cyberbully victims (27.3% vs 14.9%) (Mallik & Radwan, 2020).

Cyberbullying is unequivocally unacceptable, and counselling, psychotherapy, or psychological intervention assists victims in navigating their distressing experiences and embarking on a path toward mental healing and recovery (Elbedour et al., 2020). Indeed, psychoeducation practices based on a cognitive behavioural approach to preventing violence and Bullying produce effective results (Lee & Shin, 2017). This approach encourages individuals to actively learn and gain control over their thought patterns and emotions. The ultimate aim is to enable them to lead a more fulfilling life by cultivating realistic and balanced mindsets (Lydecker, 2022). This goal aligns with the deductive concept of applying

established theories of counseling and psychology to understand the impact of counseling intervention on cyberbullying victims at cognitive, emotional, and behavioral levels. Here, the theoretical framework of the study can be described by two models: the social-ecological model and the social learning theory. The social-ecological model examines the interaction between individual, interpersonal, community, and societal factors in influencing health outcomes, including cyberbullying victimization. Counseling interventions based on the social-ecological model address multiple levels of influence, including individual coping skills, interpersonal relationships, community support systems, and societal norms, to promote resilience and well-being among cyberbullying victims (Guo et al., 2021). Moreover, the social learning theory by Albert Bandura (Bandura, 2001) posits that individuals learn behaviors through observation, imitation, and reinforcement. Counseling interventions based on social learning theory aim to modify maladaptive behaviors and cognitions associated with cyberbullying victimization. Interventions may involve modeling prosocial behaviors, teaching assertiveness skills, and providing opportunities for positive reinforcement to promote adaptive coping and reduce vulnerability to cyberbullying (Vandebosch & Van Cleemput, 2009)

Numerous investigations into cyberbullying have been carried out in Western nations, employing qualitative and quantitative methodologies (Wang et al., 2019). In contrast, research on cyberbullying in Asian areas, whether qualitative or quantitative, is limited (Lee & Shin, 2017). Moreover, previous studies on cyberbullying in Asia have primarily focused on quantitative approaches to examine its prevalence and associated factors but qualitative methods are used to provide a “thick description” or depth understanding the phenomena to evaluate the process of intervention (McLeod, 2007; Palinkas, 2014). There was little exploration of qualitative methods of adolescents' experiences of traditional bullying in Bangladesh (Mahmood & Islam, 2017). To our knowledge investigating the impact of counselling on cyberbullying victims in Asian and Western contexts, especially in Bangladesh, qualitative study is very rare.

While previous research has documented the adverse effects of cyberbullying on adolescents' mental health, less is known about the effectiveness of counseling interventions in mitigating these effects, especially in the context of the pandemic. In line with this vein, this study aimed to mitigate this gap by exploring the impact of counselling intervention on adolescent cyberbullying victims in Bangladesh during the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, the research questions of the study were as follows:

1) In what ways do adolescents feel the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced their experiences with cyberbullying and the effectiveness of counseling interventions?

2) How do adolescents perceive the impact of counseling intervention in addressing the unique challenges and stressors associated with cyberbullying during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Sample and sampling

Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with cyberbullying victims of secondary school students in this qualitative study. Participants P1-P7 were female, and P8-P10 were male from different social backgrounds. Table 1 describes the demographics of the sample.

Table 1

Demographic Characteristics
Variable	Overall, N = 10¹	Female, N = 7¹ (P1-P7)	Male, N = 3¹ (P8-P10)
Social Class
Lower	1 (10%)	1(14.28%)	0 (0%)
Middle	5 (50%)	3 (42.86%)	2 (66.67%)
Upper	4 (40%)	3 (42.86%)	1 (33.33%)
Grade
9	4 (40%)	3 (42.86%)	1 (33.33%)
10	6 (60%)	4 (57.14%)	2 (66.67%)
Age	15.12 (0.81)	15.15 (0.79)	15.09 0.84)
¹n (%); Mean (SD)

Procedure

The participants were recruited through the purposive sampling method by the referral of colleagues of the first author, who were the therapists of the participants. All counselors work as psychologists in Bangladesh and are well-trained in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Person-Centered Therapy, Nonviolent Communication, or Eye movement desensitization Reprocessing. The inclusion criteria of the participants were secondary school students ages 12 to 16, who had already attended at least five counselling sessions, who scored above the cut-off score in cyberbullying items of the Bangla Olweus Bullying Victim Questionnaire (Mahmood et al., 2023) and the Bangla version of the Beck Youth Inventory (BYI) (Uddin et al., 2011) before starting the counselling sessions. Interviews were taken from July to September 2021 face to face. In this study, all participants and their legal guardians received comprehensive information about cyberbullying definition, the study's objectives, stringent confidentiality measures, voluntary participation, and their absolute right to withdraw from the interviews at any point. Before the interviews, written informed consent was obtained from the participants and their guardians. Interviewers were well trained in qualitative research and psychologists in Bangladesh. They also took guidance and supervision from the authors regarding the interview if any unexpected and painful challenges arose because cyberbullying is a very sensitive issue. They got instructions to stabilize the participants in that case and referred them for follow-up sessions. We developed the interview topic guide based on the literature review, which took 45–90 minutes, and the discussions were audio-recorded with the participant’s permission.

We covered the reliability and validity by the credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability of the research (Anfara Jr et al., 2002; Frambach et al., 2013). To achieve credibility, we used data triangulation by comparing the data from two genders, feedback from parents, method triangulation by observation of therapists and interviewers, and theories of social ecology and social learning to confirm theory triangulation. In addition, the first author rechecked the transcript with the participants to maintain the credibility of the research. To maintain dependability in the study, we explained the detailed data collection process, tools, and analysis process. Furthermore, interview questions, themes, and sub-themes were developed after a thorough literature review and input from two experts in the relevant field (Kirk & Miller, 1986). Confirmability was established in this study because the interviewer possessed qualifications as a psychologist with experience in dealing with bullying victims. Transferability was achieved through the invitation of two former clients for the interview. The interviewer maintained reflexivity during the interview to maintain trustworthiness between the interviewer and participants (Korstjens & Moser, 2018). Table 2 presents the interview guide.

Table 2

Interview items to explore the experiences and perceptions of cyberbullying and counselling intervention during the Pandemic
Topic	Contents of Questions
Experience of cyberbullying during Pandemic	• Can you describe your experience with cyberbullying during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to other times? -How did it start? What happened? • How did the cyberbullying affect your daily life and routines (for example, your schoolwork, friendships, and family relationships).
Experience and perception of Counselling	• How do you reach counsellor/ Who referred you to a counsellor? • What was your perception about seeking counselling support during Pandemic? • How was your experience or perception of counselling intervention about self during Covid-19 Pandemic ? • Can you describe any changes you have noticed in your emotional well-being or ability to cope since participating in counseling intervention ? • How will you handle cyberbullying after taking counselling in future?

Data Analysis

Study data were translated from Bangla to English, and transcribed verbatim in English. We chose Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) for data analysis using ATLAS.ti software (Smit, 2002) because it is an idiographic approach grounded in phenomenological traditions, emphasizing how individuals perceive and interpret significant events in their lives and the impact of these experiences on their identity and self-concept (Larkin et al., 2021). To maintain an idiographic approach, each transcript was analyzed individually (Smith). The first author aimed to grasp the participants' perceptions of their experiences without relying heavily on pre-existing theories, aligning with the phenomenological principles of IPA (Smith, 2017). We followed the data analysis process in several steps, starting with transcribing the collected data. Following transcription, the first author coded, identifying recurring patterns and themes within the dataset (Eatough & Smith, 2017). This initial coding phase was followed by a more in-depth analysis involving a second round of coding to extract the main themes and their associated significant patterns. Both authors rechecked all themes and subthemes to mitigate the discrepancy in coding. Finally, these identified themes and sub-themes were integrated into the research results, offering a comprehensive understanding of the data.

Findings

We extracted the following themes from the interviews of both male and female adolescents interviewees.

Theme 1: Sense of intensified emotional and psychological impact

Participants made the sense of cybulling experience in their lives during the pandemic as the following subthemes: Feelings of fear, amplified anxiety and stress, aggressiveness, depression, loneliness, and isolation.

Feeling of fear:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the feeling of fear surrounding cyberbullying intensified as increased online activity made adolescents more vulnerable to harassment and abuse

"When the bullying started, I felt completely overwhelmed and scared,

It was like there was no escape." (P10)

P2 expressed that she was afraid that they would make some rumour about her.

"I was afraid about breaking up the relationship with my boyfriend, as some friends intentionally spread the rumour about me on social media."

Amplified Anxiety and Stress:

Another participant mentioned about her anxiousness

"I stopped checking my messages because every notification gave me anxiety. I couldn't focus on my schoolwork or anything else." (P3)

Aggression:

P8 stated that aggression is one of the outcome of being bullied.

"Being online all the time just gave bullies more opportunities, I lost my

temper and misbehave with my family members for being bullied.” (P8)

Depression

Depression is one of the consequences of being bullied.

" I couldn't go out and meet my friends in person for sharing bullies issues that made me depressed." (P1).

"The messages made me feel worthless. I started avoiding online classes and even my family because I didn't want to explain why I was so upset."(P8)

Loneliness and isolation

"I felt so alone. The pandemic meant I couldn't see my friends in person, and online was just too painful." (P5)

Theme 2: Perceived barriers to seek counseling in the Pandemic

Participants faced barriers or challenges in accessing counseling services during the Covid-19 pandemic. The following factors influence adolescents' willingness to engage in counseling and seek help for cyberbullying-related distress.

Unaware of mental health services:

In Bangladesh, mental health services are still neglected. Adolescents may be unaware of available counseling services or how to access them. One participant mentioned he never heard about it before.

"Though my school had available online counselling service but I was unaware of it.”(P8)

Privacy concerns:

Adolescents may be hesitant to engage in virtual counseling sessions due to concerns about privacy and confidentiality.

"I have trust issues and I was not comfortable with my very personal experience with another unknown person in an online platform.” (P2)

Stigma and shame:

Perception of counselling intervention as stigma is common in Bangladesh, especially for adolescents.

"I was feeling shame that I have to seek mental health services."(P8)

Technical Difficulties and Accessibility Issues:

Technical issues such as poor internet connectivity posed challenges to effective counseling. These interruptions could be frustrating and hindered the continuity of therapy sessions.

"Sometimes, the internet connection was bad, and it was frustrating when sessions got interrupted." (P10)

Flexibility and Convenience of Virtual Sessions:

Despite the challenges, virtual counseling offered greater flexibility and convenience, allowing participants to attend sessions from the comfort and safety of their homes.

"Virtual counseling was more convenient because I didn't have to travel anywhere.

I could just log in from home." (P4)

Theme 3: Counselling as a crucial support system

Therapeutic Alliance

A strong therapeutic alliance, characterized by trust, empathy, and collaboration, enhances the effectiveness of counseling. P1 stated,

"The counsellor was very skilled in making the environment safe so that I freely shared my worst experience." (P1)

"My counselor was very understanding and patient. She made me feel safe and heard, which was something I desperately needed during that time." (P10)

"It was a relief to have someone to talk to who didn't judge me and just listened."(P7)

Virtual Counselling Experiences:

Collaboratively setting goals and regularly reviewing progress with the client promotes client autonomy and empowerment. One participant mentioned „

"Virtual counseling was a lifeline that I wouldn't have had otherwise, but sometimes it was hard to open up without being face-to-face." (P4)

"While virtual sessions were helpful, I sometimes missed the in-person connection. However, it was still better than nothing."(P8)

Theme 4: Perceived positive changes of self

During the interview, the participants expressed how counselling helped their cognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes, which reflected their sense of learning, self-growth, and changes in self-perception, fostering a sense of empowerment.

Cognitive :

Cognitive restructuring about self

Some of the participants stated that they thought it was wrong to (a) think that being a cyber victim was their fault, (b) take revenge when someone is cyber-bullied, (c) think that everyone will make fun of them when they are cyber-bullied and seeking support.

“As a cyber victim, I felt unfortunate and thought I was doing something wrong. However, I did nothing wrong. It was due to the lack of self-empathy.” (P2)

“Rather than taking revenge, what options do we have for prevention .” (P5)

“It will be a matter of jokes to others for seeking support.”(P3)

"My counselor helped me change the way I thought about the bullying. Instead of feeling like it was my fault, I started to see that it was about the bullies' issues, not mine."(P7)

"Counseling helped me see that I wasn't the problem. I started to value myself more and stand up for myself. It was a big shift in how I saw myself." (P9)

Emotional:

Emotional Regulations

"After attending counselling sessions, I learned how to acknowledge my emotions by these three stepss: A) identify physical sensations, body cues, and thoughts B) Validation the emotions without judgment C) Manage the emotion with self-awareness" (P1)

Healing the trauma

"Now I gained knowledge about self-care, and counselling helped me to enhance my mental strength or resilience power that healed my trauma of betrayal." (P3)

"Before seeking counselling, I used to take everything very personally, and now I can handle the inconvenience." (P4).

"The counsellor was pivotal in facilitating my personal growth and healing my trauma." (P5).

Building Resilience

"I am much stronger now. I know how to handle it if it happens again, and I won't let it control my life."(P6)

Behavioral

Increasing positive relationships:

"Now my relationship with parents and peers are better." (P3)

Anger management:

"Counselling helped me to overcome my anger due to lock in home and being cyber abused ” (P9)

Healthy Coping Strategies

Participants shared their experiences and explained how they made senses of healthy coping strategies after counselling intervention.

"They verbally abused me on our unofficial school Facebook page. I figured they must have had nothing better to do, so I ignored the cyberbullying, but now I dealt with it nonviolently as I observed first for a while, then if it repeats, I confront them.”(P1)

"We used mindfulness exercises and role-playing to practice how to respond to bullies. It really helped me build my confidence and reduce my anxiety."(P8)

Journaling

"Regular journaling of my emotions is one of the new coping strategies for self-awareness."(P2)

Theme 5: Long-Term Impact and Sustainability

Some factors arose from the sense of experience and perception after taking mental health services to sustained improvements in adolescents' emotional well-being and coping skills for post-pandemic adjustment.

Follow up:

"I will continue to follow-up sessions for sustainable development in the long term. (P5).

Continue practice of meditation and other exercises:

During the pandemic, physical activity, meditation, self empathy exercises boost their immunity system also which made them physically and mentally sound.

"I will continue practice meditation exercise, self-empathy exercise, and positive affirmation so that I can handle the situation assertively if further occurs." (P2)

"I became physically and mentally strongd after doing all suggested exercises. Even if I get attacked by this desease, I can handleproperly."(P3)

Advocacy and Support for Others :

"I want to help others who are going through the same thing. I tell my friends to seek help if they need it."(P8)

Figure 1 describes the findings with five themes and subthemes.

Most previous studies have predominantly employed a quantitative research approach (Chang et al., 2013; Cho & Yoo, 2017) worldwide about cyberbullying and its intervention. However, due to the sensitivity of cyberbullying, quantitative studies might not portray the depth of the problem. Moreover, there was a lacking of qualitative study on the impact of counselling intervention of cyberbullying victims, specially during Covid-19 pandemic. Hence,to mitigate this gap, this study aimed to explore the impact of counselling intervention on cyberbullying victims among adolescents in Bangladesh during the COVID-19 pandemic. In line with the research question, our findings revealed similarities and distinctions in responses between male and female adolescents regarding the lived experiences of cyberbullying and the counselling process. These findings reflect the profound impact of counseling on the lives of adolescent cyberbullying victims during the COVID-19 pandemic The findings of cases have shown that counselling was described as a positive experience in reducing cyberbullying and cyber victimization among adolescents.

Our interpretative phenomenological analysis yielded five main themes from the semi structured interview data: 1) Sense of intensified emotional and psychological impact. 2) Perceived barriers to seeking counseling in the pandemic, 3) Counselling as a crucial support system, 4) Perceived positive changes of self, and, 5) Long-term impact and sustainability.

Regarding the impact of cyberbullying on mental health, it appeared for males as feelings of fear and aggression, while females described emotional symptoms such as depression, loneliness, and anxiety. These observations are consistent with existing literature on the emotional consequences of cyberbullying (Goebert et al., 2011) and these findings also supported the empirical evidence of Covid-19 in Bangladesh (Yeasmin et al., 2020). Both male and female participants identified barriers to seeking counseling support, with males expressing unfamiliarity with mental health services, stigma and technical difficulties, and accessibility issues, while females emphasized concerns about privacy, flexibility, and convenience of virtual sessions during pandemic. This finding aligns with a previous study that passivity towards cyberbullying incidents is common in Asia (Zhou et al., 2013). The study highlights perceived barriers to seeking counseling during the pandemic, such as lack of privacy at home, technological challenges, and stigma. To overcome these, there should be an emphasis on creating more accessible and confidential counseling environments, possibly through mobile apps, text-based support, or anonymous platforms. In terms of counselling support system, we identified two sub-themes: therapeutic alliance and effective virtual counselling. Females highlighted the empathetic and trustworthy qualities of counselors, while males emphasized the importance of collaborative goal-setting in their counseling experience. This finding resonates with literature emphasizing the role of counselors in providing a supportive and safe environment for victims to process their emotions and move forward from the trauma of cyberbullying (Papatraianou et al., 2014). Given the critical role of counseling as a support system during the pandemic, virtual counseling should be integrated into regular mental health service offerings too. Hybrid models combining both virtual and in-person counseling could offer greater flexibility and accessibility.

Participants experienced positive changes in their cognition following counseling intervention, such as recognizing cognitive errors related to cyber victimization, including attributing blame to themselves, hesitating to inform parents due to fear of internet restrictions, and anticipating ridicule from others. These cognitive errors are consistent with findings from previous studies (YÜKSEL & ÇEKİÇ, 2019). The counselling guided recognizing cognitive errors and replacing thoughts positively affecting participants' bullying cognition. Olweus (Galloway & Roland, 2004) conducted research within the scope of a prevention program, explicitly targeting changes in the cognitions of bullies (Muslim & Karneli, 2019). Moreover, one female felt about the learning of emotional regulation. Furthermore, interviewees perceived the sense of learning emotional regulation skills and experiencing healing from trauma through counseling intervention. Behavioral changes were observed, with female participants reporting increased positive relationships and journaling, while male participants highlighted improvements in anger management and coping strategies. The effectiveness of counseling intervention, which may include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), person-centered therapy, and other psychotherapeutic approaches, hinges on the therapeutic alliance and the positive changes observed in clients' cognitive, emotional, and behavioral levels (Lambert, 1991; McLeod, 2007).

Based on the analysis of clients' semi-structured interviews, our research findings align with the criteria for the impact of counseling intervention on cyberbullying victims during the COVID-19 pandemic. This empirical evidence-based qualitative study provides support for the efficacy of counseling intervention in addressing cyberbullying-related distress among adolescents.

Limitations:

While this study has provided valuable insights into the experiences of counselling intervention regarding cyberbullying among adolescents, it is essential to acknowledge certain limitations. Firstly, the sample size was limited due to the context of COVID-19 and confidentiality; therefore, the saturation of each theme may have yet to be fully achieved, though we maintained the quality criteria of qualitative research. Secondly, participation in the study may have introduced a self-selection bias. Participants who voluntarily chose to participate in the study might have different experiences or perspectives than those who decided not to participate. This could affect the overall generalizability of the findings. Thirdly, phenomenological analysis is subjective, though we maintained the reliability and validity process of the research.

Practical Implications and Future directions:

This study contributes to the understanding of the impact of counseling interventions for cyberbullying victims among adolescents during the Covid-19 pandemic. By exploring barriers to participation in counselling, experience with counsellors, the perceived impact of cyberbullying, variations in positive changes in cognitive, emotional, and behavioral levels, coping strategies employed by adolescents, and the role of contextual factors in shaping counseling outcomes, this research provides valuable insights for policymakers, educators, and mental health professionals seeking to support adolescents' mental health and well-being in the digital age. For instance, the perceived positive changes in self-reported by participants suggest that counseling can foster resilience and personal growth. Counselors should use strength-based approaches that empower adolescents to build self-esteem, develop coping mechanisms, and navigate challenges.Schools should incorporate virtual counseling into their mental health programs, ensuring that students have access to immediate support, regardless of whether they are attending classes in person or online. Further studies should include a broader range of participants from diverse socioeconomic, cultural, and geographic backgrounds to understand how different groups experience virtual counseling and what adaptations might be necessary to serve them effectively. Moreover, further research is needed to explore the long-term effects of counseling interventions and identify strategies for promoting resilience and preventing cyberbullying among adolescents.

These practical implications and future research directions underscore the necessity of adaptable, resilient, and inclusive mental health interventions in the digital era, especially for adolescents grappling with the compounded effects of cyberbullying and global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ethics statement

This study was approved by the research ethics committee of the Institute of Psychology, Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary (Ref no. 2021/325 dated 16/07/2021), and the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh (Ref no DECP/O/2021/1 dated 24/05/2021).

Authors contribution

SM and ZK conceptualized the project. Writing-original draft, Coding, and analysis were undertaken by SM. ZK supervised and rechecked the extracts. Both authors contributed to the drafting, revision, and approved of the final manuscript.

Funding

The first author was financially supported by the Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship for Doctoral Program in Psychology, Eotvos Lorand University, Hungary, and University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, with a paid study leave.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The authors will make all relevant supporting data available without undue reservation.

Acknowledgments

The authors thanks all participants in this study, their parents, therapists and institutional stakeholders involved in the study's data collection. The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers of this paper.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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“ Virtual Counseling was a Lifeline”- Lived experiences of Adolescent Cyberbullying Victims on Counselling Intervention during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

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Abstract

Figures

Introduction

Method

Sample and sampling

Procedure

Data Analysis

Findings

Theme 1: Sense of intensified emotional and psychological impact

It was like there was no escape." (P10)

temper and misbehave with my family members for being bullied.” (P8)

Theme 2: Perceived barriers to seek counseling in the Pandemic

I could just log in from home." (P4)

Theme 3: Counselling as a crucial support system

Theme 4: Perceived positive changes of self

Theme 5: Long-Term Impact and Sustainability

Advocacy and Support for Others :

Discussion

Declarations

References

Additional Declarations

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