About NettOpp
NettOpp's aim is to increase awareness of how to handle negative online events, promote help-seeking behavior and coping strategies for online negativity, reduce mental distress related to negative online events, decrease online negativity and cyberbullying, and enhance self-confidence and sleep quality.
NettOpp is divided into two modules: a psychoeducation module and a resource module. The psychoeducation module provides information about what cyberbullying is (facts about cyberbullying, potential consequences of cyberbullying), advice and tips for what young people can do when they experience cyberbullying, how they can seek help and report incidents, as well as educating them about normal reactions and emotions they might experience in the face of cyberbullying. Laws and regulations related to cyberbullying are conveyed through a quiz. The resource module consists of self-help exercises, including breath control, relaxation exercises, sleep exercises, a thought-clearing exercise related to negative online experiences, and a self-esteem boost through positive messages.
Preventive Effect: If young people are better equipped to handle negative online experiences, it can have a preventive effect on their mental health and empower them to identify and stop future incidents. The resource module in NettOpp promotes individual coping with the stress associated with negative online experiences. Youth exposed to negative online incidents may experience sleep disturbances and difficulty falling asleep due to racing thoughts. NettOpp provides tips and advice on good sleep hygiene and suggests exercises to help them fall asleep more easily (Kaiser et al., 2021).
User Involvement: The app's content is based on user involvement. Young people have been engaged in the project from content development to evaluation. This has been highly valuable for NettOpp's development in terms of content, design, and terminology. Additionally, relevant services have been involved in an extended reference group, including bullying professionals, social counselors, school nurses, and psychologists from child and adolescent mental health services (BUP), and the municipality's low-threshold team.
Research: The app's content is also based on research. For example, NettOpp includes a thought-clearing exercise based on cognitive behavioral therapy (Ariso & Reyero, 2014). Sleep advice and tips have been developed in collaboration with sleep researchers from the Children in Bergen study (Hysing et al., 2018). Breathing and relaxation exercises are recognized techniques for reducing stress.
Furthermore, a comprehensive national effectivness study has been conducted to assess whether NettOpp achieves its objectives. You can read more about the NettOpp study here.