A Default Option to Enhance Dietary Quality in Participants With Food Insecurity

NCT03952949 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 16-E-260-01
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 50
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

Food insecurity is associated with an increased risk of overweight/obesity and weight-related chronic illnesses. The availability of a default option (i.e., option a consumer selects if no active choice is made) has been shown to effectively nudge consumer behavior. An online default option (i.e., prefilled grocery shopping cart) was previously shown to positively impact food selection in an online grocery shopping task.The present study provides preliminary evidence for the efficacy of an online default option in enhancing the nutritional quality of online grocery purchases in individuals with food insecurity.

Conditions

Nutrition Poor

Keywords

Nutrition; Food Insecurity; Choice Architecture; Nudge

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Nutritional Quality of Groceries Purchased

  The Thrifty Food Plan Calculator (TFPC) was used to quantify the nutritional quality of groceries selected by study participants. The TFPC was developed using U.S. Department of Agriculture nutrition and consumption data and is designed to have users input information about the relative amount of money spent on various categories of food and provides comprehensive information on caloric, macro-, and micronutrient content of the foods selected based on participant age and gender.

  Single visit, <1.5 hours

Study Arms (2)

Default

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants in the default condition were presented with a pre-filled online shopping cart containing a combination of groceries that meet macro- and micronutrient requirements for their gender and age, and told that they are free to delete, add, and exchange any item they wish to finalize their selections.

Behavioral: Default Option While Online Grocery Shopping

Nutrition Education

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants in the nutrition education condition were instructed to read a brief education brochure before online grocery shopping.

Behavioral: Nutrition Education

Interventions

Default Option While Online Grocery Shopping BEHAVIORAL

The "default option" is a behavioral economics construct that refers to the option a consumer selects if no active choice is made (e.g. opt-out 401K plans, which significantly increase enrollment, compared to active sign up). Participants in the default condition were presented with a prefilled online shopping cart containing groceries that met nutritional requirements based on participants' gender and age.

Default

Nutrition Education BEHAVIORAL

The nutrition education materials were adapted from materials currently utilized by the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance ("Eat Smart New York").

Nutrition Education

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• age 18 or older
• single person household
• fluent in written and spoken English
• able to provide informed consent
• food-insecure (verbal agreement that they consider themselves to be of that category) but not currently receiving SNAP benefits (as they would otherwise have access to twice the amount of benefits typically allocated; please note that all participants will be provided with information about enrollment in SNAP following study participation)
• current residence in a zip code served by Price Chopper's delivery program

You may not qualify if:

• None of the following dietary restrictions: vegetarian/vegan, gluten-free/celiacs disease, and lactose intolerant
• current residence outside of a zip code served by Price Chopper's delivery program

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University at Albany: lead

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Malnutrition

Interventions

Nutrition Assessment

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Nutrition Disorders; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Data Collection; Epidemiologic Methods; Investigative Techniques; Health Care Evaluation Mechanisms; Quality of Health Care; Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation; Epidemiologic Measurements; Public Health; Environment and Public Health

Study Officials

• Julia M. Hormes, PhD

  University at Albany

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: May 14, 2019
• First Posted: May 16, 2019
• Study Start: January 4, 2017
• Primary Completion: October 28, 2017
• Study Completion: October 28, 2017
• Last Updated: May 16, 2019

Record last verified: 2019-05

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share