The effect of the nurse-led ROOTS program and soft skills training on emotional regulation to prevent bullying in high school students in Bandung city
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Abstract
Background & Aim: Bullying is a significant issue affecting adolescents' mental well-being, with emotional regulation playing a key role in preventing such behavior. In Bandung, high rates of bullying among high school students indicate the need for effective prevention strategies. Nurse-led interventions, combined with soft skills training, offer a promising approach to improving emotional regulation and reducing bullying. This study examined the effect of the Nurse-Led ROOTS Program integrated with Soft Skills Training on emotion regulation among high school students in Bandung City.
Materials & Methods: A class-cluster randomized pretest–posttest control-group study was conducted in July 2025 in two high schools in Bandung, Indonesia. A total of 100 students aged 13-18 years were randomly assigned at the class level to an intervention group (n= 50) or a control group (n= 50). The intervention was delivered over 8 weeks through nurse-led face-to-face sessions. Emotion regulation was measured using the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (ERQ-CA) at baseline and post-intervention. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, Mann–Whitney U tests, Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, and mixed-effects ANCOVA.
Results: Baseline ERQ-CA scores did not differ significantly between groups (p> 0.05). The intervention group showed a significant improvement in total ERQ-CA scores (28.9±4.7 to 36.2±4.3; p< 0.001; r= 0.72), with the largest gains observed in the cognitive reappraisal dimension, whereas the control group showed no significant change (p= 0.218). At posttest, the intervention group had significantly higher ERQ-CA scores than the control group (p< 0.001; r=0.69).
Conclusion: The Nurse-Led ROOTS Program integrated with Soft Skills Training significantly improved emotion regulation among high school students in Bandung. This nurse-facilitated, peer-leadership approach may represent a scalable strategy to strengthen adolescent mental health and support violence prevention in school settings.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT07261397.
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| Issue | Articles in Press | |
| Section | Original Article(s) | |
| Keywords | ||
| adolescents; emotional regulation; nurse-led intervention; ROOTS program; soft skills training | ||
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