| Summary: | Practitioners’ perceptions and understanding of bullying in schools is vital and can help
to tackle bullying. The aim of this study is to investigate perceptions, attitudes, and
challenges towards bullying amongst 135 practitioners (psychologists, social-workers,
and medical professionals) (56.9% women; mostly aged 26-50 years) in Qatar. The
practitioners answered self-report questionnaires on the definition, causes, and
consequences of bullying as well as the presence of bullying and anti-bullying policies at
their workplace. The findings revealed that practitioners have a clear understanding of
the definition, causes, and consequences of bullying and recognise bullying and
cyberbullying as a problem in Qatari students. Higher bullying knowledge and experience
were related to higher perception of bullying as a problematic behaviour, better
identification of bullying characteristics, more support of anti-bullying laws, and more
bullying guidelines in their workplace. There is a great need for practitioner training in
issues concerning bullying and to design suitable anti-bullying policies and interventions
in schools.
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