SLIIT International Conference on Advancements in Science and Humanities [SICASH]
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SLIIT International Conference on Advancements in Science and Humanities is organized by the Faculty of Humanities and Sciences of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT), the annual research multi-conference of the faculty.
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Publication Open Access Exploring the Role of Parental Communication Patterns in Academic Stress: A Qualitative Study of Sri Lankan University Students(School of Psychology. Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2025-10-10) Kodagoda, P; Abeysinghe, NAcademic stress is a prevalent issue among university students, with parental communication playing a crucial role in shaping their stress experiences. While extensive research has examined academic stressors, there remains a gap in understanding how specific parental communication patterns influence students' ability to manage stress, particularly within the Sri Lankan context. This study explored how Sri Lankan university students perceived and experienced parental communication in relation to academic stress, focusing on the role of verbal encouragement, emotional understanding, and parental expectations in shaping students' stress experiences and coping mechanisms. A qualitative phenomenological approach was adopted, with six undergraduates (aged 19–25) purposively sampled. Data were collected throughsemi-structured interviews and analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis. Findings revealed that supportive parental communication, characterized by emotional validation and encouragement, mitigated academic stress, whereas critical or dismissive communication exacerbated stress levels. Parental expectations emerged as a significant factor influencing students’ stress. The study highlights the crucial role of parental communication in academic stress among Sri Lankan undergraduates and underscores the need for parental awareness and interventions to foster healthier communication patterns. These findings provide valuable insights for educators, policymakers, and mental health professionals in developing support mechanisms to enhance students’ academic well-being.Publication Open Access Academic Ritualistic Behaviours and Exam Stress: Insights from Generation Z Undergraduates in Sri Lanka(School of Psychology. Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2025-10-10) Dissanayake, I. N. D; Abeysinghe, NThis study explores the role of Academic Ritualistic Behaviours (ARB) in managing exam stress among Generation Z university students in Sri Lanka. Exams are often highly stress-inducing events, and this research aims to examine how ritualistic behaviours rooted in personal, cultural, generational, and psychological frameworks help students in managing exam-related stress. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six undergraduates between ages 18 to 26, till data saturation. The interview transcripts were thematically analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) framework, and the analysis gave rise to three themes: (1) Personal and cultural anchors: Rituals rooted in family, tradition, and peer influence; (2) Rituals as emotional needs: Objects, music, and symbolic actions providing comfort and focus; and (3) Technology-infused rituals: Apps, digital platforms, and manifestation practices shaping modern coping. While rituals promoted reassurance and structure, overreliance sometimes heightenedanxiety when disrupted, highlighting the double-edged nature of such practices. The Findings suggest that academic ritualistic behaviours influenced by cultural heritage and digital practices contribute to resilience, focus, and emotional stability during exams, but also reveal potential risks of overreliance. They emphasise the need for educators and researchers to acknowledge both benefits and risk associated with these behaviours when addressing student wellbeing.Publication Open Access Love and Marriage in the Eyes of Gen Z: A Qualitative Exploration(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2024-12-04) Kulathunga, A; Abeysinghe, NLove and marriage are two interconnected concepts which serve as pillars of society. However, marriage rates are declining, and the percepti on of love changes with the newer generati ons. This study aims to explore the percepti on of love among Gen Zers in Sri Lanka and to understand the implicati ons of these percepti ons on marriage. A total of 11 parti cipants who belong to Generati on Z (age 18-26) were included in this study. Focus group and in-depth interviews were conducted to elicit the views on the related topic elements. This data was analysed using themati c analysis to identi fy the common themes presented within the data. Five main themes were constructed to explain the key ideas presented by the parti cipants. Namely: Views on love, Relati onship expectati ons and breakups, Views on marriage, marriage rates, and Role of culture. The results emerged showed that love is a crucial factor in marriage, especially in the newer generati ons because it has become a primary moti vator towards marriage in contrast to past generati ons where marriage was considered a social obligati on. However, the percepti on towards love has changed in the new generati ons, resulti ng in a decrease in marriage rates. This research off ers valuable insights into the evolving concepts of love and marriage in newer generati ons, emphasising the need for further explorati on to understand its broader implicati ons to the society.Publication Open Access Construction and Validation of Academic Stress Scale for 18-35-year-old Sri Lankan University Students(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2023-11-01) Ponnamperuma, L; Hettiarachchi, A; Jayakodi, P; Abeysinghe, NThis article describes the development and initial validation of a new instrument to measure the academic stress of university students in Sri Lanka. A 16-item scale was developed by reviewing the literature and conducting interviews. Surveys were conducted with 726 Sri Lankan undergraduate students, and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were used to analyse the data. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with Oblimin rotation produced a two-component model of the Academic Stress Scale: (1) Stress due to lack of sufficient knowledge and (2) stress due to interpersonal relationships, which together explains 59% of the total item variance. The ASS is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring academic stress. A CFA suggested that the proposed factor model fits moderately well. Therefore, for researchers who have a particular interest in academic stress among Sri Lankan students, the ASS promises to be a helpful tool.Publication Open Access Perceived Stress as a Predictor of Sleep Quality in Undergraduates: A Cross-Sectional Study(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2023-11-01) Jayasena, M; Abeysinghe, NResearch spanning several years has explored the topic of perceived stress among university students. Globally, investigations consistently highlight that undergraduates encounter escalated levels of perceived stress during their academic journey, often attributed to the intricate interplay between their physical, social, and emotional well-being. The transition to an unfamiliar lifestyle, coupled with the demands of academia and evolving familial dynamics, contributes substantially to heightened stress levels. Sleep disruptions and compromised sleep quality emerge as prevalent issues for a considerable number of undergraduates. Recent studies conducted in Sri Lanka underscore a noteworthy upswing in perceived stress among local undergraduates within the last decade. This study undertakes an exploration into the intricate connection between perceived stress and sleep quality within the context of a nonstate Sri Lankan university. Employing quantitative research methods, data was gathered from a cohort of 125 participants, (83 female, 39 male,3 LGBTQ) from the Humanities and Sciences faculty. The perceived stress scale, K10 and the Pittsburgh sleep quality index were used to collect the data. According to the results, participant’s gender has no influence on perceived stress levels, but does affect sleep quality in undergraduates (U = 103.0, p = .033), with males reporting lower sleep quality than females. This finding highlights the need for targeted interventions to reduce stress and improve sleep quality among undergraduates.Publication Open Access Approach or Avoid? A Quantitative Study on the Dualistic Nature of Social Media Envy in Undergraduates in a Non-state University in Sri Lanka(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2023-11-01) Perera, R; Abeysinghe, N; Galappaththi, KEnvy is a complex emotion studied recently, especially with the impact of social media. This study explored the dualistic nature of social media envy in Sri Lankan undergraduates from a nonstate university. Using a quantitative design, data from 155 participants were collected via Google Forms and analysed with Spearman’s Rank test. Results indicated statistically significant positive moderate relationships between social media usage and both benign envy and malicious envy. However, social media only accounted for 20% of benign envy and 8.8% of malicious envy, suggesting it’s only one of many contributors. Furthermore, the association between social media usage and benign envy was stronger than that with malicious envy, implying social media envy may be less severe than perceived in Sri Lanka. The study acknowledges limitations, such as sample size and focus on one university. Future research should address these limitations and explore the dualistic nature of social media envy in different populations and contexts. Overall, the study emphasises the need to understand the complexity of envy and how social media can amplify or alleviate it. Findings have implications for social media usage, regulation, and interventions promoting emotional well-being.Publication Embargo Online Socializing and Offline Alcohol Usage: Influence of Daily Social Media Usage on the Level of Alcohol Usage among Students at a Non-state University in Sri Lanka(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2022-09-15) Galappaththi, S.K; Abeysinghe, NAlcohol misuse can affect both the individual and society negatively. Specifically, young adults exhibit close associations with alcohol and social media. Previous studies demonstrate that online alcohol advertising promotes young people using social media to consume alcohol. This study examines the relationship between alcohol use among young adults and their usage of social media in the Sri Lankan context and any differences between levels of alcohol consumption among males and females. 300 students from a non-state university in Sri Lanka between the ages of 18 and 25 participated in a cross-sectional study conducted via online survey. Correlation and independent-sample t-test were used for data analysis. There was no significant relationship between daily social media use and alcohol use among young adults in Sri Lanka. A significant difference was observed between the level of alcohol use among males and females. Young adults in Sri Lanka are significantly influenced by a variety of sociocultural influences in their use of social media and alcohol intake. The use of social media in Sri Lanka and various alcohol-related behaviours among young people should be the subject of exploratory research, thus according to researchers.Publication Embargo The Evaluation of ENhancing Assessment of Common Therapeutic factors – Sri Lanka (ENACT-SL) to Assess Common Factors in Counselling in Determining Therapist Competence in Sri Lanka(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2022-09-15) Abeysinghe, N; Kohrt, B; Galappatti, ACounselling and psychotherapy play an essential part in mental health care. The modern field of mental health care includes many counselling modalities. Each modality consists of specific knowledge and skills. This diversity makes objective evaluation of a therapist's competence across counselling modalities challenging. The "common factors" theory claims that along with each modality's specific strengths and techniques, common factors in counselling are essential for successful counsellor–client relationships. In high-income countries, the mental health care field has developed many tools to evaluate counselling skills based on the common factors relevant to specific socio-cultural settings. Hence, the usefulness of these tools is limited to the socio-cultural backgrounds where the tools were developed. The current study evaluated the ENhancing Assessment of Common Therapeutic factors – Sri Lanka (ENACT-SL) rating scale with the participation of 68 novice and experienced counsellors who used two versions of the scale to evaluate 10- minute pre-recorded counselling sessions. The scale's reliability was assessed using Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC). The ICC for interrater reliability was above 0.75, denoting ‘good’ inter-rater reliability, while the ICC for intrarater repeatability was poor for both groups. The research findings contributed in developing a new version of ENACT-SL based on 'five domains' of counselling skills to be used in counsellor training and assessment in Sri Lanka.