Amost half of elementary, middle and high school social workers are not ready to handle cyberbullying although they recognize it is a serious problem, according to a recent study cited in this PsychCentral.com article.

The study was coauthored by Temple University social work professor Jonathan Singer, DSW, and Karen Slovak, DSW, of Ohio University in Zanesville. Both are National Association of Social Workers members.

According to the study, 45 percent of 400 school social workers who were surveyed said they feel ill-equipped to deal with the problem, which has led to several well publicized suicides among young people. Only about one out of five of these social workers said their schools had an effective policy to handle the situation.

“If there’s no policy in place to guide them, staffers are flying solo in this area, and that can be a liability,” Singer said.

Social workers provide crisis intervention more than any other employees in schools, including nurses, teachers or guidance counselors. To learn more about the guidance social workers provide young people visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Schools and Communities Web page by clicking here.