Encouraging healthy student lifestyles

and Universiti Putra Malaysia in Dec 2012. This programme is aimed at enhancing the knowledge and practice of healthy and active lifestyles.

This three-year intervention programme targets lower secondary school students from 100 day-boarding schools across the country, their teachers and wardens, and also the food operators who prepare and serve their meals on a daily basis.

The programme is made up of six elements, the first of which includes conducting introductory talks with senior assistants of student affairs and wardens of the boarding schools to brief them about the content and execution of the programme.

Three hundred and thirtytwo food operators were trained to prepare healthier and tastier food using ingredients that are lower in salt and fat. Two hundred and three teachers and wardens also received training to conduct the educational module HEBAT (Healthy Eating and Be Active among Teens) that will be taught to students.

The HEBAT module is made up of 10 topics. Phase one of the module saw four topics on understanding body weight, changes in different life cycles, the balance between energy consumption and usage, and the importance of healthy eating and ways to keep active being introduced.

In phase two of the programme, six topics on how to stay active the safe way, choosing and eating wisely, reading food labels and easy menu planning were introduced.

Before and after the intervention programme, nutritional statuses of the students including Body Mass Index (BMI), dietary intake and physical activity levels and knowledge, attitude and practices of healthy lifestyles were measured.

The education module is monitored by senior assistants of student affairs and wardens from the schools. It is also reviewed by participating researchers from Universiti Putra Malaysia’s Medical and Health Sciences Faculty. The results of the phase one research revealed that the intervention group is able to maintain the attitude score while is there significant increase in scores for knowledge and practice of healthy lifestyle, when compared to the control group.

The findings from these reports will eventually be applied to all schools and its approach and findings will be shared with the nation.