Trial reportThe international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity2014
The effect of a kindergarten-based, family-involved intervention on objectively measured physical activity in Belgian preschool boys and girls of high and low SES: the ToyBox-study.
Trial report in The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The impact of early childhood education and care-based interventions on child physical activity, anthropometrics, fundamental movement skills, cognitive functioning, and social-emotional wellbeing: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025Pooled it
- Which behaviour change techniques are associated with interventions that increase physical activity in pre-school children? A systematic review.BMC public health · 2023Pooled it
- Policy, systems, and environmental interventions addressing physical activity in early childhood education settings: A systematic review.Preventive medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Home- and Community-Based Interventions for Physical Activity and Early Child Development: A Systematic Review of Effective Strategies.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Relationship Between the Physical Environment and Physical Activity Levels in Preschool Children: A Systematic Review.Current environmental health reports · 2021Pooled it
- A Sex/Gender Perspective on Interventions to Reduce Sedentary Behaviour in Girls and Boys: Results of the genEffects Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Longitudinal changes in moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2020Pooled it
- Physical activity and sedentary time among preschoolers in centre-based childcare: a systematic review.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2018Pooled it
- Determinants of Change in Physical Activity in Children 0-6 years of Age: A Systematic Review of Quantitative Literature.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2017Pooled it
- Strategies to improve the implementation of healthy eating, physical activity and obesity prevention policies, practices or programmes within childcare services.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016Pooled it
- Effectiveness of a Parent-Based eHealth Intervention on Physical Activity, Dietary Behaviors, and Sleep in Preschoolers: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Trial
- The impact of narratives and active video games among black and hispanic children with overweight and obesity: a randomized controlled trial.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2025Trial
- Pre-school-based behaviour change intervention to increase physical activity levels amongst young children: a feasibility cluster randomised controlled trial.Frontiers in public health · 2024Trial
- The effect of a cluster-randomized controlled trial on lifestyle behaviors among families at risk for developing type 2 diabetes across Europe: the Feel4Diabetes-study.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2021Trial
- 'Jump start' childcare-based intervention to promote physical activity in pre-schoolers: six-month findings from a cluster randomised trial.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2020Trial
- A physical activity, nutrition and oral health intervention in nursery settings: process evaluation of the NAP SACC UK feasibility cluster RCT.BMC public health · 2019Trial
- Impact of the Supporting Physical Activity in the Childcare Environment (SPACE) intervention on preschoolers' physical activity levels and sedentary time: a single-blind cluster randomized controlled trial.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2017Trial
- Effect and process evaluation of a kindergarten-based, family-involved cluster randomised controlled trial in six European countries on four- to six-year-old children's steps per day: the ToyBox-study.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2017Trial
- An Intervention to Increase Physical Activity in Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial With 4-Year-Olds in Preschools.American journal of preventive medicine · 2016Trial
- The feasibility of evaluating outdoor nature-based early childhood education and care provision: a pilot quasi-experimental design.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe ToyBox-study developed an evidence- and theory-based intervention to improve preschoolers' energy balance-related behaviours - including physical activity (PA) - by targeting the kindergarten environment and involving their parents/caregivers. The present study aimed to examine the effect of the ToyBox-intervention on increasing Belgian preschoolers' objectively measured PA levels.
methodsA sample of 472 preschoolers (4.43 ± 0.55 years; 55.1% boys) from 27 kindergartens (15 intervention, 12 control kindergartens) in Flanders, Belgium were included in the data analyses. Preschoolers wore an ActiGraph accelerometer for six consecutive days and were included in the data analyses if they had a minimum of two weekdays and one weekend day, both at baseline and follow-up (one year later). Preschoolers' PA outcomes were estimated for an average day, weekday, weekend day, during school hours, and during after school hours. To assess intervention effects, multilevel repeated measures analyses were conducted for the total sample, and for sub-groups (according to sex, kindergarten levels of socio-economic status (SES) and risk groups (low levels of PA at baseline)) of preschoolers.
resultsSmall intervention effects were found in the total sample. Most intervention effects were found in boys and in preschoolers from high SES kindergartens. Boys from the intervention group had an increase in vigorous PA (ß=1.47, p=0.03) and moderate-to-vigorous PA (ß=1.27, p=0.03) from baseline to follow-up, whereas PA levels in boys from the control group stagnated or decreased. In preschoolers from high SES kindergartens, the largest effects were found for PA outcomes during school hours and during after school hours.
conclusionThe results from the Belgian sample demonstrate that effects of the PA-component of the ToyBox-intervention on objectively measured PA were found in preschool boys and in preschoolers from high SES kindergartens, which means that the ToyBox-intervention was mainly effective in those sub-groups. Future interventions should search for alternative strategies to increase preschoolers' PA levels in preschool girls and preschoolers from low SES kindergartens, as these are the most important at-risk groups regarding PA.
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