Purpose The social transformation of “disadvantaged segments of society” requires an in-depth understanding of their behavioural reactions in different social contexts. To this end, the present study focuses on individuals who become vulnerable owing to their functional illiteracy in an “English”-dominant marketplace. Thus, the purpose of this study is to understand the sources of stress as perceived by functionally illiterate individuals and the mechanisms adopted by them to manage such stress when making “high-involvement” product purchases. Insights gained from the study would be beneficial for developing efficacious support programs for vulnerable populations. Design/methodology/approach In-depth interviews were conducted with 25 bottom-of-the-pyramid individuals living in slums and housing schemes located in and around Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka. Findings Two sources of perceived stress and five coping strategies were derived from the thematic analysis of the data. Participants highlighted the sources of their perceived stress as possible loss of resources and possible loss of self-esteem. Further, the participants were found to adopt several mechanisms to cope with the state of their stress and vulnerability experienced within English-dominant shopping environments, namely, seeking help from salespeople, continuing to shop at the same store, shopping with companions, “convenience purchasing” and buying only well-known brands. Originality/value These insights into the vulnerability, stress and coping mechanisms as experienced by functionally illiterate consumers will allow for the design of efficacious interventions to empower vulnerable populations.

Introduction: Due to the sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy eating habits, the prevalence of diabetes is increasing rapidly in urban Sri Lanka than the rural suburbs. Awareness of the disease is pivotal for the prevention and minimization of diabetes-related complications. No information on patient's knowledge is recorded for Sri Lanka, in a country where a comparably high literacy level is recorded. The objective of this study was to evaluate the awareness, knowledge and attitudes regarding their disease among patients with diabetes mellitus in a population of Colombo suburb. Method:This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted over 6 months enrolling a total of 131 patients with Diabetes mellitus. A self-administered questionnaire with demographic information and information regarding the symptoms, the diagnosis, complications, treatment, prevention and prognosis of the disease was used to collect data. A percentage knowledge score was calculated based on the composite score of each patient and the knowledge level was determined.Results: 76 females (58.01%) and 56 (42.75%) males participated the study. The mean age of the population was 57.56 years and the mean duration of diabetes was 10.57 years. A very small percentage (12.98%) of the patients had formal education on the disease. The mean percentage knowledge score was 37.7% with a minimum of 5.3% and a maximum of 73.7%. The knowledge level of 48.82% of patients was 'poor' while 28.3% showed 'very poor' knowledge. Only 22.88% demonstrated 'good' knowledge and none had 'very good' knowledge. Although the majority of the patients had a 'poor' or 'very poor' knowledge regarding the diagnosis (64.1%) and treatment (88.0%), 54.2% had a 'good' or 'very good' knowledge regarding complications. Only 46.7% patients had 'good' or 'very good' knowledge level on prevention and prognosis of the disease. The study failed to establish statistically significant relationships between knowledge level and gender (P = 0.33), literacy level (p = 0.445), duration of diabetes (P = 0.061) or past participation in diabetes education (P = 0.437). Conclusion:Despite having good health care fascilties, awareness and knowledge of diabetes mellitus are inadequate among patient of Colombo suburb. Urgent focus and better action plans are needed to create awareness on diabetes mellitus with the aim of a sustainable reduction in diabetes burden in future.

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In a highly competitive tourism environment, a destination must be favourably differentiated from its rival destinations and positively positioned in the minds of the potential travelers; and a key component of this process is the creation and management of a distinctive and appealing image of the destination. The recent strategic tourism plan of the country (2017-2020) aims at positioning Sri Lanka as an attractive tourist destination through the capitalization of natural advantages of having the highest bio-diversity in Asia along with a strong culture, historical artifacts, exotic beaches, green environment and friendly people. Hence, it is vital to undertake a periodic diagnosis of the current images of the country both from suppliers’ point of view i.e. projected images and the visitors’ perspectives i.e. perceived image. This study examined the images of Sri Lanka as a tourist destination as projected by Sri Lanka Tourism Promotional Bureau (SLTPB) through its official website, promotional brochures and advertisements. A content analysis was employed along with two theoretical frameworks i.e. cognitive-affective framework and three-dimensional framework put forward by Echtner and Ritchie (1991) to gauge the image. The findings revealed that Sri Lanka is promoted on eleven experiential themes in the website and other promotional materials, which mostly portray cognitive, functional and attribute-based images of the country. The emphasis placed on projecting holistic, affective and unique images is relatively weak, and this needs more thoughtful intervention by SLTPB and other authorities related to Sri Lanka tourism.