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Abstract Background One-fifth of the Sri Lankan population consists of adolescents, with 71% of them schooling. An extreme need exists in the country for the introduction of evidence-based interventions for the psychosocial well-being of adolescents. The present study assessed the effectiveness of an educational intervention to promote the psychosocial well-being of school-going adolescents in grade nine in Western Province, Sri Lanka. Materials and methods A quasi-experimental study was conducted among grade nine students in Western Province in 2019. Panadura Medical Officer of Health (MOH) area was selected as the interventional area (IA), and Kelaniya MOH area was identified as the control area (CA). Teachers at schools in the IA received training on psychosocial health promotion of adolescents. They delivered the activity-based educational intervention package to the grade nine students as 20-min classroom sessions for three months. Pre- and post-intervention assessments of attitudes and practices related to the psychosocial well-being of adolescents were conducted using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Categorical data were compared using Chi-Square or Fisher’s exact test. Mann–Whitney U test was applied to determine the difference between the medians of the pre-and post-intervention scores on attitude and practices for psychosocial well-being. Results A total of 1040 grade nine students were enrolled. There was a statistically significant increase in median score on attitudes [81.8 (IQR:75.5–85.5) to 82.3(IQR:78.6–87.2] and practices [81.7(IQR: 76.1–85.7) to 83.1(IQR: 79.1–86.9)] in the IA while there was no significant difference in the CA. The proportion of bullied adolescents in the past 30 days reduced significantly from 14.8% (n = 38) to 7.9% (n = 20) in IA(p = .03), whereas there was a slight reduction from 17.1% (n = 44) to 11.3% (n = 26) in CA (p = .17). Conclusions The present psychosocial intervention is effective in improving the psychosocial well-being of school adolescents, though long-term effectiveness was not assessed. It is recommended to utilise study findings in deciding to introduce the present intervention to basic and in-service teacher training packages and school curricula with necessary modifications.

Background: Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is rising in many low and middle-income countries owing to the increasing popularity of electronic gaming and technology availability among adolescents. However, the epidemiology of IGD in South Asia remains largely unknown. We aimed to determine IGD’s prevalence and associations, including motivations for gaming, among a Sri Lankan school-going population. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among Advanced Level students aged 16-18 attending four Colombo Educational Zone schools. Of the 412 randomly sampled recruits, 395 consenting participants filled a pretested questionnaire exploring gaming habits, motivations, and psychosocial factors. English and Sinhala versions of the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale Short-Form (IGDS9-SF) were used, and IGD was identified if ?5 items in the scale were endorsed. The Sinhala IGDS9-SF demonstrated acceptable internal consistency reliability, and its factorial validity was affirmed via Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Results: Among the sample, 81.5% (n=322) were gamers. A majority of these gamers preferred mobile gaming (64.0%) and Multiplayer Battle Royale games (27.0%). The prevalence of IGD was 5.06% (95% CI = 2.90–7.22) and was significantly higher (p