Medicine

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This repository contains the published and unpublished research of the Faculty of Medicine by the staff members of the faculty

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Author: search.filters.author.Hettige, S.Has files: Yes

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    Student usage of open educational resources and social media at a Sri Lanka Medical School
    (BioMed Central, London, 2022) Hettige, S.; Dasanayaka, E.; Ediriweera, D.S.
    Background: The use of Open Educational Resources (OER) and Social Media (SM) for academic information seeking is common among undergraduates nowadays. There is limited data on OER and SM use for education in Sri Lanka. This study was aimed at evaluating the OER and SM use for education among the medical students at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya. Stratified random sampling was used to select students from the first year to the final year. A self-administrated questionnaire was used to collect data. Results: The study included 257 responses (response rate: 89.5%), of which 185 (72.0%) were females. The OER and SM use for educational purposes at least once a month among students was 96.1% (95%CI: 93.7-98.5%) and 88.3% (95%CI: 84.4-92.3%) respectively. There was no gender difference in OER and SM use. The main reasons for accessing OER were the availability of information at any time (36.1%) and ease of information access (31.5%). Wiki sites (84.4%) and Facebook (79.8%) were the highest accessed OER and SM platforms. The majority of students were in view that the information on wiki sites (51.4%) and results of general non-specific web searches (56.0%) were reliable. Only 33.9% of students searched information from educational and government-related sources and 18.7% had accessed e-journals. Through SM, 79.0% joined educational groups and 77.0% followed the medical-related sites, pages and people. More than one-third of students (35.8%) could not find academic information from SM due to the information overload and 31.1% mentioned that SM distracted their education. Conclusion: The majority of the students used OER and SM for education; however, only a minority accessed reliable information. Students accepted information available in wiki sites and general non-specific web searchers without considering the credibility of sources. The majority of the students did not refer to e-journals. Distractions to academic work and the difficulty to access accurate information were major concerns of using SM. This study highlights the importance of improving information literacy among medical students.
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    Usage of cloud storage facilities by medical students in a low-middle income country, Sri Lanka: A cross sectional study
    (BioMed Central, 2020) Hettige, S.; Dasanayaka, E.; Ediriweera, D.S.
    BACKGROUND: Cloud storage facilities (CSF) has become popular among the internet users. There is limited data on CSF usage among university students in low middle-income countries including Sri Lanka. In this study we present the CSF usage among medical students at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya. METHODS: We undertook a cross sectional study at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. Stratified random sampling was used to recruit students representing all the batches. A self-administrated questionnaire was given. RESULTS: Of 261 (90.9%) respondents, 181 (69.3%) were females. CSF awareness was 56.5% (95%CI: 50.3-62.6%) and CSF usage was 50.8% (95%CI: 44.4-57.2%). Awareness was higher in males (P = 0.003) and was low in senior students. Of CSF aware students, 85% knew about Google Drive and 70.6% used it. 73.6 and 42.1% knew about Dropbox and OneDrive. 50.0 and 22.0% used them respectively. There was no association between CSF awareness and pre-university entrance or undergraduate examination performance. Inadequate knowledge, time, accessibility, security and privacy concerns limited CSF usage. 69.8% indicated that they would like to undergo training on CSF as an effective tool for education. CONCLUSIONS: CSF awareness and usage among the students were 56.5 and 50.8%. Google drive is the most popular CSF. Lack of knowledge, accessibility, concerns on security and privacy limited CSF usage among students. Majority were interested to undergo training on CSF and undergraduate Information Communication Technology (ICT) curricula should introduce CSF as effective educational tools. KEYWORDS: Cloud storage; Dropbox; Google drive; Medical students; Undergraduates.
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    Health care needs and services available for elders in the Batticaloa district.
    (College of general practitioners of Sri Lanka, 2018) Arulanandem, K.; Jayawickramaraja, P.T.; Hettige, S.; Ramanayake, R.P.J.C.; Kisokanth, G.
    The global and national ageing population led to much health, social and economic concerns. Thus, present study aimed at addressing the health care needs of Elders and assessing the availability of health, social services in Batticaloa district. This community based cross sectional descriptive study was conducted in Batticaloa district with 845 elders who were selected by proportionate random sampling and .interviewer admini~trated questionnaire was used as a major, component.Most of the elders (78%) were in the young old category and majority of them (56.6%) were females and most of elders (77%) were in poor socio economic status. The identified long standing medical problems amongst elders were hypertension (39%), muscular skeletal problems (32%) and bronchialasthma (18%) were also identified. Most of the elders (88%) sought medical treatment in outpatient department as first contact at government hospitals while around half of them had followed clinics for chronic conditions. This study also showed that the health system in Batticaloa district lacked geriatric services and elders were not treated as a special group. In the context of social services, most of the elders were unaware and thus were not benefited by the currently existing social security. Health seeking behavior and accessibility of health and social services were not adequately met for elders. Thus, there is a need to improve their well• being by strengthening primary care in national health system.
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    Aerophagia in adolescents is associated with exposure to adverse life events and psychological maladjustment
    (Wiley Blackwell Scientific Publications, 2018) Rajindrajith, S.; Hettige, S.; Gulegoda, I.; Jayawickrama, N.; de Silva, S.C.; Samarakoon, H.K.; de Silva, R.L.; Abeyagunawardena, S.; Devanarayana, N.M.
    BACKGROUND: Aerophagia is a common childhood functional gastrointestinal disorder. We studied the association between adverse life events (ALEs), psychological maladjustment, somatization, and aerophagia (AP) in adolescents. We also assessed the impact of AP on their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 2500 subjects of 13-18 years in 8 randomly selected schools in Sri Lanka. Translated, validated, and self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data. Aerophagia was diagnosed using Rome III criteria. KEY RESULTS: A total of 2453 questionnaires were analyzed (males 1200 [48.9%], mean age 14.8 years, SD 1.6 years). Of them, 371 adolescents had AP (15.1%). Aerophagia was associated with exposure to physical abuse (20.4% vs. 12.7% in controls, P < .0001), emotional abuse (20.3% vs. 8.2% in controls, P < .0001), and other ALEs (22% vs. 10.2% in controls, P < .001). One hundred and ninety (51.2%) adolescents with AP and 775 (37.2%) controls had a personality score above the international cutoff value of 105, indicating psychological maladjustment (odds ratio 1.77, 95% confidence interval 1.42-2.21, P < .0001). Those with AP had higher somatization (16.4 vs. 8.9) and lower overall HRQoL scores (77.0 vs. 85.1, P < .0001). HRQoL scores of adolescents with AP were lower in all domains, namely, physical (80.6 vs. 86.9), emotional (69.1 vs. 80.3), social (83.8 vs. 90.5), and school (72.6 vs. 82.5) functioning (P < .0001).CONCLUSIONS AND INFERENCES: Aerophagia was associated with exposure to ALEs and psychological maladjustment. Affected teenagers suffer from more somatic symptoms and has a poor HRQoL
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