Clinical trial NCT05854212: Behavioral Economics to Implement Nutrition Ranking in Food Pantries
Official title: Behavioral Economics to Implement a Traffic Light Nutrition Ranking System in a Network of Food Pantries
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Food Insecurity
Dietary Quality
Behavioral Economics
Implementation Science
Lead sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2023-05-11
Enrollment: 364
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 90
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: Food agencies will be randomized to one of two interfaces on the online food bank ordering platform.
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to test whether using behavioral economic strategies to promote healthy food choices on a food bank's online ordering platform increases the use of the traffic light nutrition ranking system and increases healthier food selections by the food agencies (e.g., food pantries) who use the food bank.

Detailed description: This study will use behavioral economic strategies to promote utilization of traffic-light nutrition ranking in the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) order system to improve the dietary quality of food ordered by GBFB agencies. Supporting Wellness at Pantries (SWAP) is a program to guide both traffic light labeling for use on ordering platforms and pantry shelves, as well as food pantry layout to inform clients and encourage healthy food choice.This study is a collaboration with the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) to test BE strategies (choice architecture, framing, social norms) for implementation of an evidence-based intervention (traffic light nutrition ranking, SWAP). We will determine if behavioral economic interventions on the GBFB online ordering platform increase agencies' use of traffic light nutrition labels when placing orders and increases their healthy food orders. We will conduct a 12-month randomized controlled trial comparing agencies' ordering experiences and outcomes with the current user interface (control) to a "SWAP-enhanced" user interface (intervention). All GBFB partner agencies will be randomized to see either the control or intervention interfaces when they log on to ShopGBFB, GBFB's online food ordering platform. At the end of 12 months, agency staff will complete a survey about their online ordering experiences at GBFB. In the next phase, the SWAP-enhanced ShopGBFB interface will be updated, adapted, and implemented for all 364 agencies that place orders. Agency ordering outcomes will be monitored for 12 additional months.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Food agencies that order food from the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) online ordering platform.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Food agencies that do not order food from the GBFB online platform within 2 months of the start of the study.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Healthy food agency orders from the food bank
timeFrame: 12 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Proportion of agencies that ever used the traffic light label sorting or filtering when ordering from the food bank
timeFrame: 12 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Boston
country: United States
facility: Massachusetts General Hospital
state: Massachusetts
Study officials:
References: