Background: Quality of life (QOL) is individuals’ perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns. It is an effective modern method of early identification of chronic incurable disease patients. This study was designed to determine the level and the possible contributory factors of quality of life in heterogeneous groups of cancer patients in Sri Lanka.Methods: This study was conducted at National Cancer Institute of Sri Lanka. WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire was used to assess QOL of cancer patients. Multivariate linear regression model was used to evaluate the associations of demographic variables, clinical characteristics, and social support status with the quality of life measures.Results: 167 of cancer patients were participated. The mean overall QOL score was 53.07±SD 12.68. Higher QOL was associated with patients who were married, higher educated, employed, had good family support and longer duration of illness. Significantly lower QOL was found in those who involved on radiotherapy treatments and feeling alone. Marital status, education status, comorbidity, family support and feeling alone were identified as predictors for QOL among the study group.Conclusions: The overall QOL score was considerably low in our study. Continuous family support and good education may significantly improve the QOL of cancer patients. Psychosocial and awareness programs to the family members and neighbours should be implemented to enhance the quality of life of cancer patients.

Sri Lanka is inherited with its own remarkable indigenous knowledge system as evident by its impact on the earlier inhabitants. This knowledge has its own evolution process, improvement and development within its cultural environment and transmission from generation to generation. During the recent past, there had been much dialogue on the use of indigenous knowledge as a solution to complex issues our society is confronted with. There is an increasing trend of attempting to use science and technology together with traditional knowledge to find mutually beneficial results such as best practices, which could be adopted in development projects. The management of indigenous knowledge will revalidate the past and dying cultures and promote community-based involvement in development programmes of the country. This study focuses on one of the secret knowledge transmission methods used in the field of indigenous medicine, "Vedageta". It is very clear that we thus address the need for paying great attention to this section of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and as academics, librarians, policy makers, and planners should pay greater attention to this invaluable treasure of knowledge that is threatened by extinction. This research is based on survey method including literature survey and field survey. The books written on indigenous medicine were used as sources of literature survey. Distinguish 60 Ayurveda and Indigenous medical practitioners in Anuradhapura and Colombo districts were consulted for the field survey. Both types of data qualitative and quantitative were collected in the above stated manner and analyzed quantitative data by using the SPSS and also qualitative data is according to the descriptive manner. The study highlights relevance of Vedageta which is a traditional method of transferring indigenous medical knowledge among indigenous medical practitioners still remains intact.

The study focused on usage and user satisfaction of undergraduates of the library facilities provided by the library of the Institute of Indigenous Medicine, University of Colombo. The objective of the study was to determine the users' satisfaction with information resources and services provided by the library. Also, it was aimed to investigate the purpose and frequency of library visits by undergraduates, to examine frequently used information resources and services, to find out undergraduates' perceptions regarding future developments of the library and to provide suitable recommendations to meet undergraduates' unmet needs. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Among the total students of Level 1 to Level 5, 20% of students from two Departments of Ayurveda and Unani were randomly selected as the sample. A number of 202 questionnaires were distributed and 154 students responded. The achieved response rate was 75.7%. Data were analyzed using SPSS and Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to analyze the Likert scale responses. The study revealed that the majority of undergraduates, 77.3% of the Institute of the Indigenous Medicine were satisfied with the resources and services provided by the library and they had a positive perception of the library. The study especially revealed that existing electronic resources in the library were inadequate. Hence, steps should be taken to further the development of e-resources that effectively meet the needs of undergraduates. Improving the physical facilities and reading environment of the IIM library deserves high priority. Conducting more user awareness programs is a necessity. This should be apart from the orientation programs. Implementing marketing strategies on library resources and services needs to be raised.

Public speaking skills are a mandatory requirement for law undergraduates to become competent future lawyers. Public Speaking Anxiety (PSA) is one of the crucial issues faced by law students. Therefore, the current study was designed as a pretest-posttest design to evaluate the effectiveness of an online teaching intervention in reducing the PSA among second-year law undergraduates at the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU), Sri-Lanka. More than fifty-three individuals from two of the four groups prepared to undergo lectures were randomly chosen for the study. The online teaching intervention continued for 15 weeks via the zoom platform. It consisted of gradual exposure, Communication Orientation Modification (COM), skills training, humour, and simple breathing exercises. A self-administered questionnaire consisted of an assessment of socio-demographic data followed by the Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety (PRPSA) scale was used in the data collection. The data were analysed using descriptive and inferential analysis in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 23.0. According to the normality tests, the distribution of the pre-test data was normal, but the post-test data was not normal. Hence, the researcher used both parametric and non-parametric tests. The mean (±SD) age of the participants was 22.15 (±4.857) years, and the majority of them were females (83.0 %: n=44). A Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed that the 15-week online teaching intervention on managing the PSA had resulted in a statistically significant reduction in the PRPSA score (Z =-5.761, p=0.000). Hence, the current study has revealed that the online teaching intervention conducted among the second-year Law undergraduates in managing the PSA has successfully reduced the PSA among the study participants. However, further experimental research is needed to assess associated factors related to PSA among Law undergraduates.

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