Views and experiences of compassion in Sri Lankan students: An exploratory qualitative study.

Practicing compassion has shown to reduce distress and increase emotional well-being in clinical and non-clinical populations. The existing research is primarily focused on Western populations although the concepts of compassion are heavily influenced by Asian Buddhist views. There is a dearth of co...

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Autores principales:	Lasara Kariyawasam, Margarita Ononaiye, Chris Irons, Lusia Stopa, Sarah E Kirby
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/eb594dc6695341f6bbaa5aae9299ed15
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:eb594dc6695341f6bbaa5aae9299ed15
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:eb594dc6695341f6bbaa5aae9299ed152021-12-02T20:16:10ZViews and experiences of compassion in Sri Lankan students: An exploratory qualitative study.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0260475https://doaj.org/article/eb594dc6695341f6bbaa5aae9299ed152021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260475https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Practicing compassion has shown to reduce distress and increase emotional well-being in clinical and non-clinical populations. The existing research is primarily focused on Western populations although the concepts of compassion are heavily influenced by Asian Buddhist views. There is a dearth of compassion research conducted particularly in the Asian context. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the views and lived experiences of compassion in Sri Lankan students, to understand whether compassion is a socially embraced construct in Sri Lanka, considering that Sri Lanka is a Buddhist influenced society. Participants' views and lived experiences of compassion towards themselves and to/from others were also investigated, with a specific focus on their perceived inhibitors and facilitators of compassion. Aims were set to identify whether Western compassion-based practices could be successfully applied to Asian societies such as Sri Lanka. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach was used to obtain and analyse qualitative data from a convenience sample of 10 Sri Lankan students, recruited from a Psychology course. The phenomenological analysis of the semi-structured face-to-face interviews elicited three predominant themes: What compassion means to me, what I make of it, and compassion through facilitators and inhibitors. The findings suggested that participants shared a similar understanding of the concept of compassion as reflected in the Western definitions. Experiences and views of compassion were shaped by several factors including religion, culture, society, and upbringing. In general, this study revealed that participants were well aware of the concept of compassion as well as its impact on their psychological well-being. Despite this, inhibitors existed in experiencing compassion. The religious and collectivistic-cultural influences need to be further explored and taken into account when implementing Western compassion-based practices to non-Western contexts such as Sri Lanka.Lasara KariyawasamMargarita OnonaiyeChris IronsLusia StopaSarah E KirbyPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 11, p e0260475 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Lasara Kariyawasam Margarita Ononaiye Chris Irons Lusia Stopa Sarah E Kirby Views and experiences of compassion in Sri Lankan students: An exploratory qualitative study.
description	Practicing compassion has shown to reduce distress and increase emotional well-being in clinical and non-clinical populations. The existing research is primarily focused on Western populations although the concepts of compassion are heavily influenced by Asian Buddhist views. There is a dearth of compassion research conducted particularly in the Asian context. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the views and lived experiences of compassion in Sri Lankan students, to understand whether compassion is a socially embraced construct in Sri Lanka, considering that Sri Lanka is a Buddhist influenced society. Participants' views and lived experiences of compassion towards themselves and to/from others were also investigated, with a specific focus on their perceived inhibitors and facilitators of compassion. Aims were set to identify whether Western compassion-based practices could be successfully applied to Asian societies such as Sri Lanka. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach was used to obtain and analyse qualitative data from a convenience sample of 10 Sri Lankan students, recruited from a Psychology course. The phenomenological analysis of the semi-structured face-to-face interviews elicited three predominant themes: What compassion means to me, what I make of it, and compassion through facilitators and inhibitors. The findings suggested that participants shared a similar understanding of the concept of compassion as reflected in the Western definitions. Experiences and views of compassion were shaped by several factors including religion, culture, society, and upbringing. In general, this study revealed that participants were well aware of the concept of compassion as well as its impact on their psychological well-being. Despite this, inhibitors existed in experiencing compassion. The religious and collectivistic-cultural influences need to be further explored and taken into account when implementing Western compassion-based practices to non-Western contexts such as Sri Lanka.
format	article
author	Lasara Kariyawasam Margarita Ononaiye Chris Irons Lusia Stopa Sarah E Kirby
author_facet	Lasara Kariyawasam Margarita Ononaiye Chris Irons Lusia Stopa Sarah E Kirby
author_sort	Lasara Kariyawasam
title	Views and experiences of compassion in Sri Lankan students: An exploratory qualitative study.
title_short	Views and experiences of compassion in Sri Lankan students: An exploratory qualitative study.
title_full	Views and experiences of compassion in Sri Lankan students: An exploratory qualitative study.
title_fullStr	Views and experiences of compassion in Sri Lankan students: An exploratory qualitative study.
title_full_unstemmed	Views and experiences of compassion in Sri Lankan students: An exploratory qualitative study.
title_sort	views and experiences of compassion in sri lankan students: an exploratory qualitative study.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/eb594dc6695341f6bbaa5aae9299ed15
work_keys_str_mv	AT lasarakariyawasam viewsandexperiencesofcompassioninsrilankanstudentsanexploratoryqualitativestudy AT margaritaononaiye viewsandexperiencesofcompassioninsrilankanstudentsanexploratoryqualitativestudy AT chrisirons viewsandexperiencesofcompassioninsrilankanstudentsanexploratoryqualitativestudy AT lusiastopa viewsandexperiencesofcompassioninsrilankanstudentsanexploratoryqualitativestudy AT sarahekirby viewsandexperiencesofcompassioninsrilankanstudentsanexploratoryqualitativestudy
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Views and experiences of compassion in Sri Lankan students: An exploratory qualitative study.

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