Browsing by Author "Siriwardhana, D."

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    Disciplining the children: mothers' perceptions from a rural Sri Lankan community
    (iMed Publishing, 2015) Siriwardhana, D.; Weerasinghe, M.
    BACKGROUND: Disciplining is a major component of parenting. Studying the perception on disciplining children provides information to reduce harmful practices in communities. The aim of this study was to develop an instrument and assess maternal perception towards the physical and psychological disciplinary practices in a rural community of Sri Lanka. METHODS AND MATERIAL: Vignettes based interviewer administered questionnaire incorporating a visual analog scale was developed to capture the perceptions. Sixty seven mothers of children aged 11-16 years participated. Mothers were asked to categorize the vignettes into three groups and to rate the perception on three domains; severity, approval and harm. Mean scores and standard deviation was calculated for each disciplinary act. Then weighted mean scores were calculated for total physical and psychological disciplinary acts in three domains. Pearson correlation co efficient was calculated and significance of the correlation was tested between the perception of severity and approval, perception of severity and harm, perception of harm and approval for each of the disciplinary acts. RESULTS: The mean scores for perception of severity for eight individual physical disciplinary acts varied from 4.57 to 7.93 and for harm from 3.24 to 7.72. For perception of approval it varied from 2.91 to 7.34. The mean scores for perception on severity of psychological disciplinary acts varied from 4.29 to 7.52 and for harm from 4.43 to 7.39. For approval of the act it was from 3.06 to 5.43. Negative correlation was observed for the perception of approval with perception of severity and harm. Positive correlation was seen between the perception of severity and harm. CONCLUSION: The study demonstrates that mothers in this community favour physical disciplinary practices compared to the psychological disciplinary practices. Even though the perceived culpability of the child is low in the psychological disciplinary acts they perceive those acts as comparatively severe, harmful and less approved. © Copyright iMedPub
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    Subjective Evaluation of Perceived Sources of Noise Annoyance and Associated Ailments of Teachers in Selected Sinhala Medium Primary Schools in the Attangalla Education Division
    (Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, 2014) Devapaksha, E.; Ileperuma, L.D.; Siriwardhana, D.
    Noise levels in school premises have increased at present than in past years. In most countries, there are policies and regulations regarding noise exposure in school premises. However, Sri Lanka lacks significant research findings regarding noise exposure and outcomes in the educational settings.7 schools in the Attanagalla Educational Division were selected purposively and all teachers employed in those schools were included in the study. Data was collected via a self-administered questionnaire. A higher number of participants among the surveyed teachers were in the age range of 45-55 years. 85.83% of teachers considered noise to be annoying. The most presenting indoor noise source was students chatting in the class during lessons (33.03%). The most presenting outdoor noise source was traffic noise (9.17%). It showed that every participant who considered noise was annoying had reported at least one ailment. A significant amount of teachers had tiredness (74.31%) and vocal discomfort (67.69%). Less number of teachers complained of otologic symptoms (ear fullness-11.92%, Tinnitus- 13.77%, perception of reduced hearing sensitivity-13.77%). Noise in the school environment is the main annoying factor for teachers during their working hours. There was a low number of hearing impaired teachers (3.14%) reported among the surveyed teachers. It is difficult to figure out whether the hearing loss occurred with age or noise. Teachers’ awareness should be raised by implementing awareness programmes on noise and its hazards and noise control methods to school settings.