Date
4-2021
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (EdD)
Chair
Vivian Jones
Keywords
Bullying, Disabilities, Anti-bullying Interventions, School Climate
Disciplines
Education
Recommended Citation
Combs-Jones, Will Lela, "An Investigation of Teachers' Descriptions, Understandings, and Perceptions of Intervention and Prevention Tactics Addressing Students with Disabilities: A Collective Case Study" (2021). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 2905.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/2905
Abstract
The purpose of this collective case study was to describe and understand teachers' perceptions of anti-bullying intervention and prevention strategies, or programs, that address the bullying of students with disabilities in elementary schools found throughout a large, suburban school district that is in the central region of the United States. The theory that guided this study was Bandura's (2002) social cognitive theory, which describes how individuals' (teachers specifically) self-efficacy beliefs play a significant role in considering and dealing with situations. The guiding research questions that evoked participant responses and revealed their self-efficacy beliefs surrounding the phenomenon included delving into the needs, resources and supports, specific interventions, and the efficacy of the current bullying initiatives for bullied students with disabilities. The chosen qualitative research design for this study was the case study design. This collective case study highlighted the different aspects of 15 teacher participant descriptions, understandings, and perspectives about interventions and prevention strategies concerning students with disabilities who encounter bullying. This study was also bounded by the actual school setting (elementary) and a specific time in which teachers have taught students with disabilities (within the last five years). The various essential data collection guidelines were followed for this case study and consisted of interviews, a focus group session, and participant journal entries. The four themes of teachers' perceptions of bullying, available resources, district and campus initiatives, and unintended bullying perpetration were centered around the collected data and were determined to understand the case's complexity better.
