STUDY PROTOCOL article
Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Pediatric Obesity
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1611282
This article is part of the Research TopicNovel Approaches to Diet, Exercise, and Drugs in Childhood Obesity and Metabolic DiseasesView all 7 articles
Kindergarten-based obesity prevention trial based on self-regulation strategy: study protocol of the Wuhan Preschoolers' Healthy Start project
Provisionally accepted
wenli Dong
yimin Wangke Xu
Wang Miyuan*wenqi XiaFengyan ChenPaiziyeti TuerxunYanfen JiangMengna WeiJiameng Zhou
Jianduan Zhang*- School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
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Childhood obesity has surged in China, with preschool years being a critical window for intervention. Despite this, evidence-based randomized trials remain scarce, and traditional prevention strategies focusing on knowledge dissemination show limited long-term efficacy. The Wuhan Preschool Healthy Start (WPHS) project addresses this gap through a kindergartenbased trial integrating self-regulation strategies with energy balance-related behavior (EBRB) interventions. Methods This stratified randomized controlled trial enrolls children from 26 Wuhan kindergartens (13 intervention, 13 control) over 18 months. The multicomponent intervention targets diet, physical activity, sleep, sedentary behavior, and self-regulation, engaging children, families, and kindergarten environments. Control groups follow standard curricula. Primary outcome is the change in BMI z-score. Secondary outcomes assess behavioral factors (diet, sleep, activity), self-regulation skills, and other anthropometric indicators. Analyses adhere to intention-to-treat principles, using linear mixed models to evaluate intervention effects across strata while exploring potential effect modifiers including kindergarten level, child gender, and age.This intervention hypothesizes that the integrated components of health knowledge, behavior, and self-regulation will not only support the adoption of targeted health behaviors but also ensure their long-term maintenance. This unique approach makes the WPHS project an innovative and holistic initiative to prevent childhood obesity, providing valuable insights into 3 public health strategies for this critical population. We anticipate that incorporating selfregulation training will improve the sustainability of behavior changes, addressing a key gaps in current preschool obesity interventions.
Keywords: Childhood Obesity, Self-regulation, Family, School, energy balance-related behavior Trial registration number Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR2200058452
Received: 14 Apr 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Dong, Wang, Xu, Miyuan, Xia, Chen, Tuerxun, Jiang, Wei, Zhou and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Wang Miyuan, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Jianduan Zhang, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
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