Malaysian Health and Adolescents Longitudinal Research Team (MyHeART) Study Handbook

It is published. 

Adopting healthy lifestyle is important in reducing the risk from
developing non-communicable diseases. This should be impart
from early age if possible. The Malaysian Health and Adolescents
Longitudinal Research Team (MyHeART) study aims to investigate
the risk factors of non-communicable diseases among adolescents, by
determining how lifestyle factors (e.g; diet and eating habits, physical activity
including recreational activities and high risk behaviours) 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 developing public health policies for this group to help in reducing the
incidence of NCD in adults and reduce the gap between rural and urban
health in the near future. It is also expected to attract more international
research collaboration. This handbook described the fieldwork for data
collection, data management processes, training protocols and a compilation
of questionnaires, charts and forms used over the span of four years from
2012 till 2016 for the three waves of data collection. The intention of this
handbook is to provide some guide for researchers who are interested
in gaining some insight into the lifestyle of adolescents in Malaysia. This
maybe also suitable for other stakeholders from the low and middle income
countries to learn from each other. Due to the richness of information, it
potentially will help students especially at postgraduate levels to utilize
the information from this book and also other stakeholders from the
non-governmental organisation, ministries personnel, policy makers and
healthcare centers personnel.