METHODS: This study adopted a focused ethnography design within a constructivist research paradigm. Participant observations and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 parents, 21 children and 19 nurses in a paediatric oncology unit in Malaysia. All observation fieldnotes and interview recordings were transcribed verbatim. A focused ethnographic data analysis technique was performed to analyse the data.

RESULTS: Three themes emerged regarding parents' roles in the communication and decision-making processes involving their children: i) facilitators of communication; ii) communication brokers and iii) communication buffers.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 370 adolescents aged 10 years old-19 years old throughout Malaysia. The questionnaire used was adapted from a previous study and the pilot study resulted in Cronbach's alpha of 0.85. IBM SPSS Statistics version 25.0 software was used for data analysis at two statistical levels: descriptive and inferential (Mann-Whitney U test).

RESULT: The most important health information needs related to high-risk behaviour according to the adolescents were 'violence' (3.72 score out of 5), 'sexual activity-related disease' (3.64 score out of 5) and 'physical activity and effect of lack in physical activity' (3.61 score out of 5). 'Physician' (4.01 score out of 5) and 'the internet' (3.95 score out of 5) were the most important sources for obtaining health information related to high-risk behaviours. The main criterion for the quality of health information was the 'validity and reliability of the information' (4.55 score out of 5). The findings indicate that adolescents have a positive attitude towards health information-seeking behaviour, although slight differences between boys and girls are exhibited. The most common barrier to health information seeking experienced by adolescents is 'difficulty in determining the quality of information found'.