Overcoming bullying in higher education: A narrative analysis of students’ coping strategies

Bullying is a negative phenomenon that occurs everywhere among human beings, even in higher education institutions. People tend to react to bullying differently, and therefore, overcoming a bullying situation can take many forms. In this research, we analyze higher education (HE) students’ experiences of coping through their narrated stories. The research questions of the study were: (1) How do former victims describe overcoming bullying they experienced as an HE student? and (2) What similarities and differences appear in the outcomes of their narratives? The data was collected between late 2021 and early 2022 and consisted of fourteen questionnaire answers and five interviews (15 women, 2 men, 2 did not want to disclose their gender, aged 20-52). All the participants were studying at a university and represented various fields and years of study. The analysis of narratives focused on the students’ coping strategies, while the narrative analysis produced meta-narratives depicting the paths taken to overcome bullying. The research provides important viewpoints on how bullying occurs in HE institutions and how important it is to acknowledge the phenomenon and to engage the whole community in tackling it.