Effectiveness of a school-based intervention on knowledge, attitude and practice on healthy lifestyle and body composition in Malaysian adolescents.

Background: The 'Eat Right, Be Positive About Your Body and Live Actively' (EPaL) intervention programme was developed to prevent overweight and disordered eating in Malaysian adolescents. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the EPaL programme on knowledge, attitudes and practices on healthy lifestyle and body composition (body mass index z-score [zBMI], waist circumference [WC] and body fat percentage [BF%]) among adolescents.

Methods: All measures were taken at three time points: before intervention (Pre), after intervention (Post I) and 3 months after intervention (Post II).

Malaysian adolescents' perceptions of healthy eating: a qualitative study.

Objective: To explore the concepts of healthy eating and to identify the barriers and facilitating factors for dietary behaviour change in adolescents.

Design: A qualitative study involving twelve focus groups.

Setting: Two secondary schools in the district of Hulu Langat in Selangor, Malaysia.

School-based intervention to prevent overweight and disordered eating in secondary school Malaysian adolescents: a study protocol.

Background: Obesity, eating disorders and unhealthy weight-loss practices have been associated with diminished growth in adolescents worldwide. Interventions that address relevant behavioural dimensions have been lacking in Malaysia. This paper describes the protocol of an integrated health education intervention namely 'Eat Right, Be Positive About Your Body and Live Actively' (EPaL), a primary prevention which aimed to promote healthy lifestyle in preventing overweight and disordered eating among secondary school adolescents aged 13-14 years old.

Assessing the children's views on foods and consumption of selected food groups: outcome from focus group approach.

The food choices in childhood have high a probability of being carried through into their adulthood life, which then contributes to the risk of many non-communicable diseases. Therefore, there is a need to gather some information about children's views on foods which may influence their food choices for planning a related dietary intervention or programme. This paper aimed to explore the views of children on foods and the types of foods which are usually consumed by children under four food groups (snacks, fast foods, cereals and cereal products; and milk and dairy products) by using focus group discussions.