A Trial of Traffic Light Labeling With Behavioral Nudges and a Healthy Recipe Database to Increase Selection of Healthier Foods in Client-choice Food Pantries

NCT04243252 | Terminated

• 1 other identifier: 2019P003211
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 3
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study is a pilot evaluation of the Healthy Pantry Program, a new behavioral economics-based training that allows pantry staff to learn how to implement nudges integrating traffic-light nutrition labeling and a healthy recipe database in the pantry environment. The hypothesis is that participation the Healthy Pantry Program will lead to increases in pantry purchases of healthy foods.

Conditions

Food Selection

Keywords

food insecurity

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Monthly change in proportion of green-labeled foods purchased by food pantries from the food bank

  Monthly change from baseline values of healthier foods purchased by pantries from the food bank in the proportion of green-labeled foods.

  Collected from the electronic ordering system at baseline and prospectively each month for 9 months

• Monthly change in the Healthy Purchasing Score of foods purchased by food pantries from the food bank

  Monthly change from baseline values of healthier foods purchased by pantries from the food bank in a weighted Healthy Purchasing Score that includes all foods (range: 0-1, higher scores represent healthier selection)

  Collected from the electronic ordering system at baseline and prospectively each month for 9 months

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Change in food availability at food pantries

  Assessed at baseline and 6 months

• Change in healthier food selection by pantry clients

  Assessed at baseline and 6 months

• Change in healthier food selection by pantry clients

  Assessed at baseline and 6 months

• Change in self-reported fruit and vegetable intake of pantry clients

  Assessed at baseline and 6 months

Study Arms (2)

Intervention Food Pantries

EXPERIMENTAL

Food pantries will complete online training to help them rank foods by nutritional value and promote those foods to pantry clients; the effect on pantries and their clients will be measured.

Behavioral: Healthy Pantry Program

Control Food Pantries

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Food pantries will continue to operate as usual during the study period; the effect on pantries and their clients will be measured.

Other: Waitlist Control

Interventions

Healthy Pantry Program BEHAVIORAL

Food pantries will receive the Healthy Pantry Program online training, which will be completed by at least one pantry staff member and teaches pantry staff a novel traffic-light nutrition labeling system, a multilingual healthy recipe database, and how to use those and other behavioral economic strategies to implement simple interventions in the food pantry to promote client selection of healthier options. Onsite support by a registered dietitian is included.

Intervention Food Pantries

Waitlist Control OTHER

Normal food pantry use for duration of the 9-month study period. Control pantries will have access to the Healthy Pantry Program after study is completed.

Control Food Pantries

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• maximum client-choice (clients can choose all items that they take from pantry)
• operate at least once weekly
• affiliated with the Greater Boston Food Bank

You may not qualify if:

• not affiliated with the Greater Boston Food Bank
• operating less than once weekly
• not a maximum client-choice food pantry
• \>1 hr drive from Boston
• \<50 clients on average per open day
• ≥18 years old
• pantry client
• speaks English or Spanish
• \<18 years old
• does not speak English or Spanish

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Massachusetts General Hospital: lead
• Greater Boston Food Bank: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Massachusetts General Hospital

Boston, Massachusetts, 02114, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Food Preferences

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Feeding Behavior; Behavior

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 22, 2020
• First Posted: January 28, 2020
• Study Start: March 5, 2020
• Primary Completion: March 12, 2020
• Study Completion: March 12, 2020
• Last Updated: June 18, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-06

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)