TY - JOUR
T1 - Perceptions of eating practices and physical activity among Malaysian adolescents in secondary schools
T2 - a qualitative study with multi-stakeholders
AU - Mohammadi, Shooka
AU - Su, Tin Tin
AU - Papadaki, Angeliki
AU - Jalaludin, Muhammad Yazid
AU - Dahlui, Maznah
AU - Mohamed, Mohd Nahar Azmi
AU - Jago, Russell
AU - Toumpakari, Zoi
AU - Johnson, Laura
AU - Majid, Hazreen Abdul
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank Shafina Radiah Mohamad Rafix (SRR) and Mohd Fadzrel bin Abu Bakar (FAB) for their valuable cooperation and support during data collection. Financial support: This study was undertaken as part of the MyHeARTBEaT (Malaysian Health and Adolescents Longitudinal Research Team Behavioural Epidemiology and Trial) project (IF017-2017) in Malaysia, funded by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (Newton Ungku Omar Fund) and the UK Medical Research Council (grant number MR/P013821/1). The sponsors have had no input to the study design; collection, management, analysis and interpretation of data and no input to the writing of the report; and the decision to submit the report for publication. Conflict of interest: None. Authorship: H.A.M., A.P., T.T.S., S.M., M.D., Z.T., L.J. and R.J. contributed to the conception and design of the study. H.A.M. and L.J. led the project and secured the necessary funds. S.M., H.A.M., T.T.S., M.D., M.Y.J. and M.N.A. were responsible for data collection, transcription, coding and analysis. S.M., H.A.M., A.P. and T.T.S. contributed to drafting the manuscript and provided critical input. All authors have read, revised and approved the final draft of the manuscript. Ethics of human subject participation: This study was conducted according to the guidelines laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki, and all procedures involving study participants were approved by the University of Malaya Medical Centre Research Ethics Committee (MREC ID NO: 2 017 106–5656). All participants (and/or the adolescents’ parent or legal guardian) were asked to provide written informed consent before data collection commenced.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - Objective: To conduct formative research using qualitative methods among stakeholders of secondary schools to explore their perceptions, barriers and facilitators related to healthy eating and physical activity (PA) among Malaysian adolescents. Design: A qualitative study involving eight focus groups and twelve in-depth interviews. Focus groups and interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. An inductive thematic analysis approach was used to analyse the data. Setting: Four secondary schools in Perak and Selangor states (two urban and two rural schools) in Malaysia. Participants: Focus groups were conducted with seventy-six adolescents aged 13-14 years, and in-depth interviews were conducted with four headmasters, four PA education teachers and four food canteen operators. Results: Stakeholders thought that adolescents' misperceptions, limited availability of healthy options, unhealthy food preferences and affordability were important challenges preventing healthy eating at school. Low-quality physical education (PE) classes, limited adolescent participation and teachers' commitment during lessons were perceived as barriers to adolescents being active at school. Affordability was the main challenge for adolescents from rural schools. Stakeholders perceived that a future school-based intervention should improve the availability and subsidies for healthy foods, provide health education/training for both adolescents and PE teachers, enhance active adolescent participation in PE and develop social support mechanisms to facilitate engagement with PA. Conclusions: These findings provide important insights into developing school-based lifestyle interventions to improve healthy eating and strengthening PA of Malaysian adolescents.
AB - Objective: To conduct formative research using qualitative methods among stakeholders of secondary schools to explore their perceptions, barriers and facilitators related to healthy eating and physical activity (PA) among Malaysian adolescents. Design: A qualitative study involving eight focus groups and twelve in-depth interviews. Focus groups and interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. An inductive thematic analysis approach was used to analyse the data. Setting: Four secondary schools in Perak and Selangor states (two urban and two rural schools) in Malaysia. Participants: Focus groups were conducted with seventy-six adolescents aged 13-14 years, and in-depth interviews were conducted with four headmasters, four PA education teachers and four food canteen operators. Results: Stakeholders thought that adolescents' misperceptions, limited availability of healthy options, unhealthy food preferences and affordability were important challenges preventing healthy eating at school. Low-quality physical education (PE) classes, limited adolescent participation and teachers' commitment during lessons were perceived as barriers to adolescents being active at school. Affordability was the main challenge for adolescents from rural schools. Stakeholders perceived that a future school-based intervention should improve the availability and subsidies for healthy foods, provide health education/training for both adolescents and PE teachers, enhance active adolescent participation in PE and develop social support mechanisms to facilitate engagement with PA. Conclusions: These findings provide important insights into developing school-based lifestyle interventions to improve healthy eating and strengthening PA of Malaysian adolescents.
KW - Adolescents
KW - Diet
KW - Malaysia
KW - Physical activity
KW - School-based
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85092214847&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S1368980020002293
DO - 10.1017/S1368980020002293
M3 - Article
C2 - 32744217
AN - SCOPUS:85092214847
SN - 1368-9800
VL - 24
SP - 2273
EP - 2285
JO - Public Health Nutrition
JF - Public Health Nutrition
IS - 8
ER -