METHODS: Phase 1 of the study involves developing the Malay-version NHP knowledge questionnaire, whereas Phase 2 involves a cross-sectional study of 446 randomly selected low-income respondents to determine their level of health-promoting lifestyle and the associated factors. The respondents' sociodemographic, socioeconomic, health monitoring activity, health status, and NHP knowledge data were obtained using the newly developed Malay-version NHP questionnaire and the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP II) questionnaire. The independent variables include sociodemographic status, annual health monitoring activities, health status and NHP knowledge were analysed using simple and multiple linear regression.

RESULTS: In this study, the 10-item NHP knowledge questionnaire developed in the Malay version contains two domains [safe use (eight items) and point of reference (two items)] (total variance explained: 77.4%). The mean of NHP knowledge score was 32.34 (standard deviation [SD] 7.37). Meanwhile, the mean score of health-promoting lifestyle was 109.67 (SD 25.01). The highest and lowest scores of health-promoting lifestyles are attributed to spiritual growth and physical activity, respectively. Ethnicity is associated with a higher health-promoting lifestyle level, same goes to the occupational status - NHP knowledge interaction. "Unclassified" education status and annual blood glucose level monitoring are associated with a lower level of health-promoting lifestyle.