Mapping stakeholders of the National Bullying Prevention Strategy in Abu Dhabi with document analysis—a qualitative and comparative study

Background Bullying prevention requires coordinated efforts across education, health, security, and community systems. Abu Dhabi has developed a National Bullying Prevention Strategy (NBPS), but its structure, stakeholder roles, and alignment with global best practices remain underexplored. This study had three objectives. First, it mapped and analyzed the stakeholder network underpinning Abu Dhabi’s National Bullying Prevention Strategy (NBPS). Second, it quantified the centrality and influence of each actor using semantic and social network analysis. Third, it benchmarked the findings against international models of bullying prevention. Methods A cross-sectional multi-method design used a mixture of semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, documentary analysis, and personal communications. Stakeholders were identified through snowball sampling, influence and engagement levels were triangulated with an online survey. Semantic and social network analyses were undertaken using adjacency matrices and R software, where degree, betweenness, closeness, and strength centrality were computed for 17 organizations. Comparative benchmarking involved policies from Finland, Norway, Australia, USA, Japan, and Singapore. Results A total of 25 stakeholders were identified. Most actors demonstrated moderate-to-high levels of influence. UNICEF and the Ministry of Education (MoE) were central to implementation, while others such as Abu Dhabi Media and United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) primarily contributed through information sharing. Network analysis revealed that Ministry of Interior have highest betweenness centrality (0.43), connecting security and education clusters, while the MoE possessed highest closeness centrality (0.71), indicating its central coordinating function. The Department of Health Prevention had the highest strength centrality (0.82), highlighting its impact on wellbeing and psychosocial support, while the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood also had significant cross-sectoral influence (0.76). Peripheral players like Edubai Life had limited but specialist roles in awareness training. Thematic network analysis revealed awareness campaigns, digital safety, and inclusivity as key bridging themes, complemented by governance and monitoring nodes that reinforced accountability. Benchmarking highlighted similarities with Nordic whole-community models but also identified Abu Dhabi’s strong security-oriented dimension, resembling the USA and Japan. Conclusion Abu Dhabi’s NBPS demonstrates strong interministerial collaboration, anchored by education, security, and health, but with weaker civil society integration. Comparative benchmarking suggests broadening community participation and reframing bullying within a holistic wellbeing and equity agenda, offering transferable lessons for global bullying prevention strategies.