Background
obesity, lifelong healthy behaviors
OBESITY, RECRUITMENT, CHILDHOOD OBESITY, DISEASES
Childhood obesity is a global public health issue. Due to concerns about the morbidity and mortality associated with the high prevalence of obesity, it is now one of the top priorities in the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) [Amongst the Southeast Asian countries, Malaysia recorded the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity [Interventions that are instituted during early childhood have been shown to be the best and most effective approach to fostering lifelong healthy behaviors [To the best of our knowledge, the ToyBox Study Malaysia is the first time that the Toybox Study has been implemented outside of Europe. We initiated this intervention program as a feasibility study with the purpose of adapting, translating, and implementing the six-month ToyBox intervention in both urban kindergartens in Peninsular (Kuala Lumpur and Selangor) and rural kindergartens in East Malaysia (Bau, Lundu, Samarahan, and Siburan). Using a two-armed randomised controlled trial (RCT) research design, recruitment was done for both intervention and control groups among communities from different cultures and ethnicities of Malaysia. This project was one of the first national-level intervention studies in Malaysia focusing on children and their parents that involved environment modification and training kindergarten teachers [As recommended by Oakley et al. [