Estudio Descriptivo: Programa de Prevención y Disminución del Acoso Escolar – “Bullying”. Fase Diagnóstica: Prevalencia

Descriptive Research: Program for Prevention and Reduction of Bullying. Diagnostic Phase : Prevalence BACKGROUND: Bullying is a regionally and local present social phenomenon, so the objective of this study was to establish its prevalence. METHODS: This is a descriptive study in which two educational institutions in the city of Cuenca - Ecuador were included. Two questionnaires were applied: the first one on bullying and mistreatment of students and the other questionnaire about teacher’s perception of school climate; both of them were validated previously. Basic statistics were used for description of the information from the study. RESULTS: The study included 885 students from second to ninth year of basic general education. A 10.6% of children were found to be victims of bullying in the institution “A” and 9.1% in the institution “B”; the predominant demonstrations were: the verbal direct bullying, followed by physical damage to the property of others and to relational environment as the most important. The most common areas of bullying were: the classroom and the playground. CONCLUSIONS: An increase was noticed in the percentage of bullying of 6.4% that was presented in the initial study (2012) to 10.6% in the institution “A” and 9.1% in the “B” which is presented in evidence of 2015, perceptions about the causes of bullying continue being linked to bothering facts, being different, be caused or make a joke, the most prevalent manifestation is the direct verbal nickname, which is linked to Cuenca context, areas where this phenomenon is generated are the same (classroom and playground) and the perception of their school and family environment by students remains favorable.