The Influence of Fictitious Peers in a Social Media Intervention for Downsizing Portions: The Smart Snacking Studies

NCT04064775 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 17-0111/ 17-0094
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 44
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

The 2 interventions aimed to examine whether peer-led nudging on social media may be a way of influencing young adults and adolescents to reduce their self-reported ideal portion sizes of high energy-dense snacks and sugar-sweetened beverages.

Conditions

Eating Behavior; Social Psychology

Keywords

Social influence; Peer influence

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Self-reported ideal portion size

  Questionnaire measuring participants' self-reported ideal portion size. The aim of the intervention was to reduce the ideal portion size. Participants were provided with different images of food. For each image, judgements were made on whether the portion was 'too little', 'slightly less than I would eat', 'just right', 'slightly more than I would eat', or 'too much'.

  Baseline at the beginning of week 1 and intervention end at the end of week 4.

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Perceptions of peers' ideal portion sizes

  Baseline at the beginning of week 1 and intervention end at the end of week 4

• Participants liking and frequency of consumption of high energy dense snack foods and sugar-sweetened beverages

  Baseline at the beginning of week 1 and intervention end at the end of week 4

• Participants' intentions regarding their portions

  Baseline at the beginning of week 1 and intervention end at the end of week 4

Study Arms (2)

Smart snacking intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

In intervention 2 participants took part in a 4-week intervention on Instagram. Participants saw images of fictitious peers' snacks or beverages three times per week, and saw snack information images three times per week. Peer snack images were posted on days 2,4 and 6 of each week, and snack information images were posted on days 1,3 and 5 of each week. Images were posted between 10-11am each day. Participants also completed quizzes related to snacking at the end of weeks 1-3. Participants completed a survey at baseline and intervention end to assess their ideal portion sizes to allow for examination of the effectiveness of the intervention.

Behavioral: Smart snacking intervention

Control

NO INTERVENTION

Participants in the control received no intervention. They completed the questionnaires at the end of weeks 1, 2 and 3, and also completed the surveys at baseline and intervention end.

Interventions

Smart snacking intervention BEHAVIORAL

The smart snacking intervention aimed to examine whether peer-led nudging on social media influenced adolescents to reduce their self-reported ideal portion sizes for a variety of HED snacks and SSBs. In intervention 2, participants were randomly allocated to the intervention or control condition, and their ideal portion sizes were assessed through a survey at baseline and intervention end.

Smart snacking intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 13 Years - 16 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• years old (intervention 2)

You may not qualify if:

• Younger than 13 or older than 16 (intervention 2).
• History of or current eating disorder

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Leeds: lead
• Coventry University: collaborator
• Penn State University: collaborator

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Feeding Behavior

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior, Animal; Behavior

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Masking Details: Participants were informed they were in a study about snacking behaviour but were not told that we were attempting to reduce their portion sizes.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal investigator

Model Details: Intervention 2 used a parallel design where participants were either allocated to an intervention or a control group in a between-subjects repeated measures design.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: May 16, 2019
• First Posted: August 22, 2019
• Study Start: December 8, 2016
• Primary Completion: June 1, 2017
• Study Completion: June 1, 2017
• Last Updated: August 22, 2019

Record last verified: 2019-08

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share