Behavioural components and delivery features of early childhood obesity prevention interventions: intervention coding of studies in the TOPCHILD Collaboration systematic review

Johnson, Brittany J.; Chadwick, Paul M.; Pryde, Samantha; Seidler, Anna Lene; Hunter, Kylie E.; Aberoumand, Mason; Williams, Jonathan G.; Lau, Hei In; Libesman, Sol; Aagerup, Jannik; Barba, Angie; Baur, Louise A.; Morgillo, Samantha; Sanders, Lee; Taki, Sarah; Hesketh, Kylie D.; Campbell, Karen; Manson, Alexandra; Hayes, Alison; Webster, Angela; Wood, Charles; O’Connor, Denise A.; Matvienko-Sikar, Karen; Robledo, Kristy; Askie, Lisa; Wolfenden, Luke; Taylor, Rachael; Yin, H. Shonna; Brown, Vicki; Fiks, Alexander; Ventura, Alison; Ghaderi, Ata; Taylor, Barry J.; Stough, Cathleen; Helle, Christine; Palacios, Cristina; Perrin, Eliana M.; Reifsnider, Elizabeth; Rasmussen, Finn; Paul, Ian M.; Savage, Jennifer S.; Thomson, Jessica; Banna, Jinan; Larsen, Junilla; Joshipura, Kaumudi; Ong, Ken K.; Karssen, Levie; Wen, Li Ming; Vitolo, Márcia; Røed, Margrethe; Bryant, Maria; Rivera, Maribel Campos; Messito, Mary Jo; Golova, Natalia; Øverby, Nina Cecilie; Gross, Rachel; Lakshman, Rajalakshmi; Byrne, Rebecca; Rothman, Russell L.; O’Reilly, Sharleen; Anzman-Frasca, Stephanie; Verbestel, Vera; Maffeis, Claudio; de la Haye, Kayla; Salvy, Sarah-Jeanne; Mihrshahi, Seema; Ramachandran, Janani; Baratto, Paola Seffrin; Golley, Rebecca K.

doi:10.1186/s12966-025-01708-9

International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

Table 2 Summary of the most common delivery features coded in early child obesity prevention interventions

From: Behavioural components and delivery features of early childhood obesity prevention interventions: intervention coding of studies in the TOPCHILD Collaboration systematic review

Delivery features^a	Categories	Number of intervention (n = 36^b
Why – theory: Rationale, theory or goal	Behaviour change theory
	Social Cognitive Theory	11
	Social Learning Theory	5
	Health Belief Model	4
	Theories, models and frameworks for intervention content
	Anticipatory guidance	9
	Responsive parenting	5
	Intervention development process
	Intervention Mapping	2
	No theory used (regardless of type)	7
What – materials: Physical or informational materials, including	Written materials	30
	DVD / video	16
	Tangible tools	10
	Other (e.g. social media group, magnets)	5
What – procedures: Procedures, activities, processed used in the intervention	Didactic sessions	30
	Peer/ facilitator support	27
	Interactive activities	16
	Group discussion	13
Who provided – intervention delivered by^c: Expertise, background	Health professional	26
	Medical doctor	4
	Nursing and midwifery professional	16
	Other health professional (e.g. dietitians and nutritionist, physiotherapist)	13
	Legal, social and cultural professional (e.g. psychologists)	4
	Health associate professional (e.g. community health workers)	3
	Higher education university student	3
	Not applicable	4
Training for the intervention:	Yes	31
	No	1
	Not applicable	4
How– delivery mode^d:	Human interactional	29
	Face to face	28
	Printed material	29
	Printed publication	27
	Electronic	28
	Call	17
	Playable electronic storage	9
	Mobile application	5
	Email	3
	Website	3
Individual / Group:	Individual (i.e., one-on-one)	31
Individual / Group:	Group	15
Unidirectional / Interactional	Unidirectional	8
Unidirectional / Interactional	Interactional	28
Synchronous / Asynchronous	Synchronous	31
Synchronous / Asynchronous	Asynchronous	10
Where – intervention setting^e: Location	Residential facility	23
	Household residence^f	23
	Healthcare facility	11
	Community healthcare facility	5
	Educational facility	5
	University facility	3
	Community facility	5
When and how much – intervention dose^g:	Total intervention duration in weeks (median, range)	64.5 (0.3, 165.6)
	Total number of contacts (median, range)	9 (2, 105)
	Frequency of contact:
	< Weekly	2
	Weekly to < monthly	7
	Monthly or greater	21
	Varied frequency	4
	Average duration of contact in hours (median, range)	7.5 (0.3, 30)
Tailoring: If the intervention was planned to be personalised, titrated or adapted at the participant level	Yes – included element of tailoring	27
	No	9
Modifications: If the intervention was modified during the study at the intervention level	Yes – intervention modified	8
	No	28
Fidelity: Planned and/or Actual	Yes	35
Fidelity: Planned and/or Actual	No	1

Percent agreement between coders for delivery features was a mean 79% (SD 8%)
^aAdapted from Hoffmann et al. [20] An intervention arm could be coded to multiple categories within a delivery feature domain
^bOne intervention arm in the primary analysis arm did not complete validation process for delivery features
^cIntervention Source Ontology v3 [19] https://osf.io/zfn25/
^dMode of Delivery Ontology [19] https://osf.io/4j2xh/
^eIntervention Setting Ontology v1 [19] https://osf.io/g8qfv/
^fHousehold residence was assumed to be where participants accessed digital/remote intervention content (n = 5)
^gIntervention duration reported in months were multiplied by 4.3 to estimate duration in weeks, (n = 1 missing data). Number, frequency and duration of contact for intervention delivery excluded data collection contact time (n = 2 missing data, where contact was variable and unable to be estimated)

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