CyberbullyingNCT04176666
NettOpp: The Development and Evaluation of an App-based Selective Intervention for Adolescents Exposed to Cyberbullying
A study testing NettOpp in people with Cyberbullying, run by University of Tromso at 1 site in Norway.
Trial summary
The aim of the project is to develop and evaluate an app-based intervention for adolescents who have been exposed to cyberbullying. The overarching goal is to offer a low-threshold intervention, called NettOpp, that is easy accessible and free to use for every junior high school student who has experienced… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 11 to 16 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Cyberbullying
- What is being tested?
- NettOpp
- Type of treatment
- Medical device
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 709 participants
- Where
- 1 siteNorway
- Study dates
- 4 Sep 2021to 1 Jul 2022
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 11 to 16 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Child
Who may be able to join
- Adolescents whose guardians have given consent and who agree to take part in the study
Who cannot join
- severe developmental or cognitive challenges
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
About this study
The aim of the project is to develop and evaluate an app-based intervention for adolescents who have been exposed to cyberbullying. The overarching goal is to offer a low-threshold intervention, called NettOpp, that is easy accessible and free to use for every junior high school student who has experienced cyberbullying in Norway.
Read the detailed description
The main aim of the intervention is to increase coping strategies for adolescents who have been exposed to cyberbullying. More specifically the aims are to increase 1) knowledge about cyberbullying, 2) help-seeking behavior, 3) coping strategies with cyberbullying, 4) to reduce mental health problems, and 5) cyberbullying, and 6) to increase self-esteem and the 7) sleeping quality of the adolescents.
To evaluate the mobile application three studies will be conducted: A lab test, a pilot study, and a larger effectiveness study with a follow-up examination after 3 months. The lab test will be conducted to examine the quality of the prototype of the app in order to find out if adjustments have to be made. Thereafter, a pilot study will be conducted with adolescents that were exposed to cyberbullying in the past six months. The pilot study will use a pre-post design.The effectiveness study will be conducted as a randomized controlled trial with an intervention group and a waiting-list control group.
- Conditions
- Cyberbullying
- Being tested
- NettOpp
- Keywords
- cyberbullying, cyberaggression, mobile application
- Medical subject headings
- Cyberbullying
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
NettOppDevice
NettOpp is a mobile application for adolescents aged 11-16 years who have been exposed to cyberbullying or cyberaggression.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Intervention group receiving NettOpp | Experimental | The effectiveness study will be conducted as a randomized controlled trial with an intervention group and a waiting-list control group. Data will be collected at baseline (T1, pre intervention) and after about 2 weeks of intervention (T2, post intervention). A follow-up evaluation (T3) will be conducted after about 3 months to examine if the effects were stable over time. Receives: Device: NettOpp |
| Control group | No intervention | The control group will receive the intervention after study completion. |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
SDQ (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire)
Adolescents: SDQ (Goodman, 1997): A 25 item self-report assessing mental health and psychosocial functioning in 11-17 years old adolescents on a three point scale.
Measured: From baseline to 2 weeks after intervention, and after 3 months as follow-up.
CATS (Child and Adolescent Trauma Screening)
Adolescents: CATS (Sachser et al., 2017): A 20 item self-report assessing posttraumatic stress-symptoms for 7-17 year old adolescents on a four point scale.
Measured: From baseline to 2 weeks after intervention, and after 3 months as follow-up.
WHO-5 (WHO-Five Well-being Index)
Adolescents: WHO-5 (WHO, 1998): A five item self-report questionnaire assessing well-being on a six point scale.
Measured: From baseline to 2 weeks after intervention, and after 3 months as follow-up.
Secondary outcomes (5)
Help-seeking behavior
Adolescents: three self-report items measuring if they sought help, who they sought help from, and if they received the help they needed.
Measured: From baseline to 2 weeks after intervention, and after 3 months as follow-up.
Cyberbullying
Adolescents: Cyberbullying (Olweus, 1993): One self-report item measuring the frequency of cyberbullying exposure.
Measured: From baseline to 2 weeks after intervention, and after 3 months as follow-up.
Self-liking and Competence Scale
Adolescents: Self-liking and Competence Scale (Silvera, Neilands, \& Perry, 2001; Tafarodi \& Swann, 2001): A 20 item self-report assessing self-liking and self-competence.
Measured: From baseline to 2 weeks after intervention, and after 3 months as follow-up.
Sleeping quality
Adolescents: Sleeping quality will be measured with six questions with different response categories from the Bergen Child Study (Hysing, Harvey, Stormark, Pallesen, \& Sivertsen, 2018).
Measured: From baseline to 2 weeks after intervention, and after 3 months as follow-up.
CCQ (Cyberbullying Coping Questionnaire)
Adolescents: CCQ (Jacobs, Völlink, Dehue, \& Lechner, 2015): A 17 item self-report assessing how often the adolescents use the different cyberbullying coping strategies.
Measured: From baseline to 2 weeks after intervention, and after 3 months as follow-up.
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted25 Nov 2019
- Study start4 Sep 2021
- Primary completion1 Jul 2022
- Study completion1 Jul 2022
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (2)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for CyberbullyingStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Model description
- Intervention and control group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 709 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of Tromso
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Henriette Kyrrestad, University of Tromso
- Investigators
- Henriette Kyrrestad, PhD, Principal investigator, UiT The Arctic University of Norway
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04176666
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 161212 NettOpp - effektstudie
- Other IDs
- 545417
- Status last verified
- May 2026
- First submitted
- 14 Nov 2019
- Last updated
- 11 May 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Publications
Hogsdal H, Kaiser S, Mabille G, Breivik K, Adolfsen F, Martinussen M, Kyrrestad H. The effects of an app to prevent negative outcomes of cyberbullying: A cluster randomized controlled trial. PLOS Digit Health. 2025 Apr 22;4(4):e0000819. doi: 10.1371/journal.pdig.0000819. eCollection 2025 Apr.
PubMed 40261920Kaiser S, Martinussen M, Adolfsen F, Breivik K, Kyrrestad H. An App-Based Intervention for Adolescents Exposed to Cyberbullying in Norway: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Res Protoc. 2021 Nov 8;10(11):e31789. doi: 10.2196/31789.
PubMed 34747704
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 11 May 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- NettOpp: The Development and Evaluation of an App-based Selective Intervention for Adolescents Exposed to Cyberbullying
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04176666
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 161212 NettOpp - effektstudie
- Conditions
- Cyberbullying
- Keywords
- cyberbullying, cyberaggression, mobile application
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 709 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- University of TromsoUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 4 Sep 2021 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 1 Jul 2022 (actual)
- Study completion
- 1 Jul 2022 (actual)
- First posted
- 25 Nov 2019 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The aim of the project is to develop and evaluate an app-based intervention for adolescents who have been exposed to cyberbullying. The overarching goal is to offer a low-threshold intervention, called NettOpp, that is easy accessible and free to use for every junior high school student who has experienced cyberbullying in Norway.
Detailed description
The main aim of the intervention is to increase coping strategies for adolescents who have been exposed to cyberbullying. More specifically the aims are to increase 1) knowledge about cyberbullying, 2) help-seeking behavior, 3) coping strategies with cyberbullying, 4) to reduce mental health problems, and 5) cyberbullying, and 6) to increase self-esteem and the 7) sleeping quality of the adolescents.
To evaluate the mobile application three studies will be conducted: A lab test, a pilot study, and a larger effectiveness study with a follow-up examination after 3 months. The lab test will be conducted to examine the quality of the prototype of the app in order to find out if adjustments have to be made. Thereafter, a pilot study will be conducted with adolescents that were exposed to cyberbullying in the past six months. The pilot study will use a pre-post design.The effectiveness study will be conducted as a randomized controlled trial with an intervention group and a waiting-list control group.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 2
- Model description
- Intervention and control group
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Intervention group receiving NettOpp | Experimental | Device: NettOppThe effectiveness study will be conducted as a randomized controlled trial with an intervention group and a waiting-list control group. Data will be collected at baseline (T1, pre intervention) and after about 2 weeks of intervention (T2, post intervention). A follow-up evaluation (T3) will be conducted after about 3 months to examine if the effects were stable over time. |
| Control group | No intervention | –The control group will receive the intervention after study completion. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 11 to 16 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Child
Key inclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Adolescents whose guardians have given consent and who agree to take part in the study
Key exclusion criteria (1 listed)
- severe developmental or cognitive challenges
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| NettOppNettOpp is a mobile application for adolescents aged 11-16 years who have been exposed to cyberbullying or cyberaggression. | Device | Intervention group receiving NettOpp |
Primary outcome
SDQ (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire)
Time frame: From baseline to 2 weeks after intervention, and after 3 months as follow-up.
Adolescents: SDQ (Goodman, 1997): A 25 item self-report assessing mental health and psychosocial functioning in 11-17 years old adolescents on a three point scale.
CATS (Child and Adolescent Trauma Screening)
Time frame: From baseline to 2 weeks after intervention, and after 3 months as follow-up.
Adolescents: CATS (Sachser et al., 2017): A 20 item self-report assessing posttraumatic stress-symptoms for 7-17 year old adolescents on a four point scale.
WHO-5 (WHO-Five Well-being Index)
Time frame: From baseline to 2 weeks after intervention, and after 3 months as follow-up.
Adolescents: WHO-5 (WHO, 1998): A five item self-report questionnaire assessing well-being on a six point scale.
5 secondary outcomes
Help-seeking behavior
Time frame: From baseline to 2 weeks after intervention, and after 3 months as follow-up.
Cyberbullying
Time frame: From baseline to 2 weeks after intervention, and after 3 months as follow-up.
Self-liking and Competence Scale
Time frame: From baseline to 2 weeks after intervention, and after 3 months as follow-up.
Sleeping quality
Time frame: From baseline to 2 weeks after intervention, and after 3 months as follow-up.
CCQ (Cyberbullying Coping Questionnaire)
Time frame: From baseline to 2 weeks after intervention, and after 3 months as follow-up.
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 11 May 2026.
- Results publication: PubMed 40261920Hogsdal H, Kaiser S, Mabille G, Breivik K, Adolfsen F, Martinussen M, Kyrrestad H. The effects of an app to prevent negative outcomes of cyberbullying: A cluster randomized controlled trial. PLOS Digit Health. 2025 Apr 22;4(4):e0000819. doi: 10.1371/journal.pdig.0000819. eCollection 2025 Apr.
- Derived from this study: PubMed 34747704Kaiser S, Martinussen M, Adolfsen F, Breivik K, Kyrrestad H. An App-Based Intervention for Adolescents Exposed to Cyberbullying in Norway: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Res Protoc. 2021 Nov 8;10(11):e31789. doi: 10.2196/31789.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Henriette Kyrrestad, PhD principal investigator
UiT The Arctic University of Norway
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing NettOpp in people with Cyberbullying, run by University of Tromso at 1 site in Norway.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 1 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 11 May 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in Norway. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
SDQ (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) (time frame: From baseline to 2 weeks after intervention, and after 3 months as follow-up.). The study lists 3 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT04176666, which also lists 2 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 11 May 2026.