Page 26 - pulse 2019 issue 3

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MALAYSIAN HEALTH AND
ADOLESCENTS LONGITUDINAL
RESEARCH TEAM (MyHeart): STUDY
HANDBOOK

Editors: Hazreen Abdul Majid, Tin Tin Su,
Muhammad Yazid Jalaludin, Nabilla Al Sadat
Publisher: UM PRESS
ISBN: 978-967-488-092-7

his handbook describes the
fieldwork of the Malaysian Health
Tand Adolescents Longitudinal
Research Team (MyHeART). The study
aims to investigate the risk factors of non-
communicable diseases (NCD) among
adolescents, by determining how lifestyle
factors (e.g diet and eating habits, physical
activity, including recreational activities, and high-risk behaviour) at early stages
of adolescence may contribute to the development of non-communicable chronic
diseases in early adulthood in Peninsular Malaysia. This study is the first of its kind
among adolescents in Malaysia and is expected to assist in the development of
public health policies to help in reducing the incidence of NCD in adulthood and
reduce the gap between rural and urban health in the near future.

The handbook consists of information on data collection, data management
processes, training protocols and compilation of questionnaires, charts and forms
used over a span of four years from 2012 till 2016 for three waves of data collection.
The intention of this handbook is to provide a guide to students, researchers,
health care professionals and policymakers who are interested in gaining some
Read Tips and interventions can be developed using a holistic approach. The richness of the
useful insights into the lifestyle of adolescents in Malaysia so that relevant research

information in this book could potentially be useful to other stakeholders from

on adolescents. This is crucial to ensuring that the sustainable development goals
26 the low- and middle-income countries on the practicality of conducting research
(SDG), such as zero hunger, good health and wellbeing and quality education, could
be achieved.