The victimization of individuals with chronic conditions or disabilities is prevalent with severe impact at psychological and physiological levels. With the increasing use of technology these experiences were further reshaped. This systematic review aimed at scoping the experiences of cyber-victimization of people living with chronic conditions or disabilities and examine the documented impact on them. Following a four-stage search strategy in several databases including MEDLINE, Embase, PsychINFO, CINAHL, Cochrane and snowballing of references, a total of 2,922 studies were scanned and 10 studies were eventually included. Quality assessment was done in two phases using tools specific to observational studies and cyber-victimization research. A narrative synthesis of reported results covered a total of 3,070 people. Sample size ranged between 42 and 823 participants, and the age range was 6-71 years with a majority of White ethnic backgrounds. Most studies (n=9) were cross sectional. The prevalence range of cyber-victimization was 2%-41.7% based on variable definitions, duration and methods. Targeted conditions included physical impairments, intellectual disabilities and specific chronic diseases. The most common documented impact was psychological/psychiatric, mainly depression followed by anxiety and distress. Somatic health complaints and self-harm were also reported. We concluded that people with chronic conditions and disabilities were consistently at higher risk of victimization with devastating health complications. Research gaps were identified such as the need to address more conditions and acknowledge differences between heterogeneous health conditions. Other recommendations include allowing flexibility and accountability to patients/victims in research design, education on victimization and health consequences, and improving primary care.

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Disabled people face hostility and harassment in their socio-cultural environment. The use of electronic communications creates an online context that further reshapes this discrimination. We explored the experiences of 19 disabled victims of cyberharassment. Five themes emerged from the study: disability and health consequences, family involvement, misrepresentation of self, perceived complexity, and lack of awareness and expertise. Cyberharassment incidents against disabled people were influenced by the pre-existing impairment, perceived hate-targeting, and perpetrators faking disability to get closer to victims online. Our findings highlight a growing issue requiring action and proper support.

The victimisation of people living with disabilities and chronic conditions is a documented phenomenon. It ranges from harassment incidents to disability hate crimes, and causes physical, mental and psychosocial consequences. The Internet has further reshaped this phenomenon which lead to "cyber-victimisation" experiences, with no less impact upon victims. This methodology paper focuses mainly on the challenges and implications of using online methods in a UK-based study exploring the impact of cyber-victimisation on people coping with disabilities and chronic conditions. Mixed-method design was adopted via an online-survey followed by in-depth interviewing of victims. Online recruitment was through victim-support groups

Abstract-Context: Online harassment and stalking have been identified with growing accordance as anti-social behaviours, potentially with extreme consequences including indirect or direct physical injury, emotional distress and/or financial loss. Objective: As part of our ongoing work to research and establish better understanding of cyberstalking, this study aims to investigate the role of Police, Mobile Operators, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and owners/administrators of online platforms (e.g. websites, chatrooms) in terms of intervention in response to offences. We ask to what different authorities do people report incidents of cyberstalking? Do these authorities provide satisfactory responses or interventions? And how can this be improved? Furthermore, we discuss the role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to encourage the implementation of cyberstalking-aware schemes by service providers to support victims. In addition, CSR can be used as a means to measure the effects of externality factor in dictating the relationship between the impact of a given individuals' privacy loss and strategic decisions on investment to security controls in an organisational context. Method: A Mixed design method has been used in this study. Data collection took place by means of an online survey made available for three years to record both qualitative and quantitative data. Overall, 305 participants responded from which 274 identified themselves as victims of online harassment. Result: Our results suggest that most offences were communicated through private channels such as emails and/or mobile texts/calls. A significant number of victims did not report this to their service provider because they did not know they could. While Police were recognised as the first-point-of-contact in such cases, 41.6% of our sample did not contact the Police due to reasons such as fear of escalation, guilt/sympathy and self-blaming. Experiences from those who have reported offences to service providers demonstrate that no or very little support was offered. Overall, the majority of participants shared the view that third-party intervention is required on their behalf in order to mitigate risks associated with cyberstalking. An independent specialist antistalking organisation was a popular choice to act on their behalf followed by the Police and network providers. Conclusion: Incidents are taking place on channels owned and controlled by large, cross-border international companies providing mobile services, webmail and social networking. The lack of support offered to victims in many cases of cyberstalking can be identified as Corporate Social Irresponsibility (CSI). We anticipate that awareness should be raised as regarding service providers' liability and social responsibility towards adopting better strategies.

By law, schools are required to protect the well-being of students against problems such as on-campus bullying and physical abuse. In the UK, a report by the Office for Education (OfE) showed 17% of young people had been bullied during 2017–2018. This problem continues to prevail with consequences including depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and eating disorders. Additionally, recent evidence suggests this type of victimisation could intensify existing health complications. This study investigates the opportunities provided by Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) data towards next-generation safeguarding. A new model is developed based on blockchain technology to enable real-time intervention triggered by IoMT data that can be used to detect stressful events, e.g., when bullying takes place. The model utilises private permissioned blockchain to manage IoMT data to achieve quicker and better decision-making while revolutionising aspects related to compliance, double-entry, confidentiality, and privacy. The feasibility of the model and the interaction between the sensors and the blockchain was simulated. To facilitate a close approximation of an actual IoMT environment, we clustered and decomposed existing medical sensors to their attributes, including their function, for a variety of scenarios. Then, we demonstrated the performance and capabilities of the emulator under different loads of sensor-generated data. We argue to the suitability of this emulator for schools and medical centres to conduct feasibility studies to address sensor data with disruptive data processing and management technologies.

Disability hate crime is under-reported in the UK with perceived limited support given to the victims. The use of online communication resulted in cyber-disability hate cases, recognised by the Police with the addition of an 'online-flag' in the documentation. However, the cases remain under-reported, with potential individual, societal and organisational barriers to reporting especially during a pandemic. This paper aims to contextualise the reporting of cyberdisability hate cases, identify potential barriers, and provide recommendations to improve support to victims by the Police. The retrospective examination was carried out on disability-related cyber incidents documented by a police force in the UK for 19 months. Among 3,349 cyber-crimes, 23 cases were included. The analysis covered descriptive statistics and qualitative document analysis (QDA). Only 0.7% of cyber incidents or 6.7% of cyber-hate incidents were disability related. The age of victims ranged between 15 and 61 years, with a mean of 25.8 years. Most of the victims (78%) were from White ethnic background, and the majority were females (61.5%). Three overarching themes emerged from the qualitative data as influencers of reporting or documentation, these were: psychological impact, fear for safety, and the type of disability. Cyber-offences resulted in a serious impact on wellbeing, however, cases that included people with visible disabilities were more documented. Further awareness-raising targeting the police and public is needed to understand the impact of cyber-offences and recognise the different types of disabilities, which might encourage both reporting and documentation.

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