A systematic approach for the development of a kindergarten‐based intervention for the prevention of obesity in preschool age children: the ToyBox‐study

Abstract

The increasing childhood obesity epidemic calls for appropriate measures and effective policies to be applied early in life. Large-scale socioecological frameworks providing a holistic multifactorial and cost-effective approach necessary to support obesity prevention initiatives in this age are however currently missing. To address this missing link, ToyBox-study aims to build and evaluate a cost-effective kindergarten-based, family-involved intervention scheme to prevent obesity in early childhood, which could potentially be expanded on a pan-European scale. A multidisciplinary team of researchers from 10 countries have joined forces and will work to realize this according to a systematic stepwise approach that combines the use of the PRECEDE-PROCEED model and intervention mapping protocol. ToyBox-study will conduct systematic and narrative reviews, secondary data analyses, focus group research and societal assessment to design, implement and evaluate outcome, impact, process and cost effectiveness of the intervention. This is the first time that such a holistic approach has been used on a pan-European scale to promote healthy weight and healthy energy balance-related behaviours for the prevention of early childhood obesity. The results of ToyBox-study will be disseminated among key stakeholders including researchers, policy makers, practitioners and the general population.

The translation of preschoolers’ physical activity guidelines into a daily step count target

“…The ToyBox-study aims at preventing overweight and obesity in preschoolers, by developing a multidisciplinary preschool intervention and testing it in six European countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Poland and Spain (Manios et al, 2012). This study only used Belgian baseline data, since only Belgian preschoolers wore accelerometers to measure their PA levels, while in the other countries PA levels were measured by the use of pedometers.…”

Diet quality in European pre-schoolers: evaluation based on diet quality indices and association with gender, socio-economic status and overweight, the ToyBox-study

“…The ToyBox-study is an EU-funded largescale study of pre-schoolers (3·5-5·5 years old) and their families from six European countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Poland and Spain). It aimed to develop and evaluate a kindergarten-based, family-involved intervention to prevent overweight and obesity in pre-school children (www.toybox-study.eu) (21) . For the present study, the cross-sectional baseline data from the ToyBoxstudy were used.…”

SALTO - Study Protocol and Rationale of a Community-Oriented Obesity Prevention Program in the Kindergarten

“…The order of topics was selected by the kindergarten teacher team in the workshop utilizing the modified problem solving tree method (mPAST) and every half-year iteratively (see also text in table 1). This approach is supported by recent data from the ToyBox study, underlining the importance of the degree of implementation [55]. …”

“…Although we follow the community-based EPODE method, the COCS approach was considered a crucial aspect of SALTO in order to integrate evidence-based and sustainable actions into the core setting, alongside regional and national health policies [55]. Accordingly, we developed our didactic manuals with experts in the field.…”