Efficacy of Therapeutic Role-Play on Bullying Perpetration among Secondary School Students in Lagos State

Abstract

BACKGROUND: School bullying has become worrisome all over the world. There is no adequate information on bullying in schools in Nigeria, especially regarding the prevalence and treatment programme. Therefore, this descriptive study examined the efficacy of therapeutic role-plays on bullying perpetration among secondary school students in Lagos State. AIM: This descriptive study examined the efficacy of therapeutic role-plays on bullying perpetration among secondary school students in Lagos State. METHODS: The study adopted both survey and experimental designs. The study was in two phases and covered the two of the six educational districts of Lagos State. One thousand, four hundred and forty (1440) participants took part in the prevalence study, while one hundred and thirty-eight participated in the second phase, which was an experimental study. RESULTS: The finding revealed a significant effect of therapeutic role-play in treating bullying perpetrations among secondary school students (t = 72.822, df = 68; p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The study concluded that therapeutic role-play effectively reduces bullying perpetrations. Therefore, counsellors should adopt psychological interventions like therapeutic role-play to reduce bullying perpetrations in secondary schools.