Clinical trial NCT04806074: FOODLIT-Trial: Digital Behaviour Change Intervention to Improve Food Literacy Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
Official title: FOODLIT-Trial: Protocol of a Randomised Controlled Digital Intervention to Promote Food Literacy and Food Sustainability Behaviours in Adults Using the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) and the Behaviour Change Techniques Taxonomy (BCTT) During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Food Literacy
Food Habits
Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms
Eating Behavior
Keywords: Food Literacy
Behaviour Change
Sustainability
COVID-19
Lead sponsor: ISPA - Instituto Universitario de Ciencias Psicologicas, Sociais e da Vida
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
First posted: 2021-03-19
Enrollment: 215
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: Given that healthy food-related habits are protective of both malnutrition and multiple noncommunicable diseases (including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer), and acknowledging that poor diets constitute a greater risk to mortality, it is essential to improve individuals' food-related knowledge, skills, and behaviours. Furthermore, the current public health context caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the need for an adequate diet as a protective factor for one's global health.

In the ambit of the FOODLIT-PRO: Food Literacy Project (ref. SFRH/BD/128528/2017), a digital intervention to promote food literacy - that is, food-related knowledge, competencies, and behaviours - encompassing behavioural change strategies and psychological determinants (such as intention, planning, and self-efficacy) was developed.

With the online deliver of personalised evidence-based materials concerning food literacy, adult participants receive weekly challenges that promote their food-related knowledge (e.g., recognising food's origin and seasonality), competencies (e.g., as cooking and planning skills), and behaviours (e.g., tracking food intake, interpret nutritional labels). Matched with tailored behavioural change strategies (experimental group), both food literacy content and psychological aspects that relate to health behaviour are assessed weekly in order to evaluate the intervention's efficacy. Follow-ups at 3-, 6- and 9-months post intervention will be assessed.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Having a minimum of digital literacy to access, visualise and download online material related to the intervention;
* Having the availability to participate in the intervention (11 weeks) and posterior follow-up moments.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in Food Literacy (FOODLIT-Tool)
timeFrame: Measure applied at baseline, one week post-intervention, and at 3-, 6- and 9-months follow-ups in order to evaluate.
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Assessment of Health Action Process Approach Model (HAPA) Variables
timeFrame: Measure at baseline, one week post-intervention, and at 3-, 6- and 9-months follow-ups
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Lisboa
country: Portugal
facility: ISPA - Instituto Universitário
Study officials:
affiliation: ISPA - Instituto Universitário
name: Isabel Leal, Ph.D.
role: STUDY_CHAIR
References:
citation: Schwarzer, R. (2008) Modeling health behavior change: how to predict and modify the adoption and maintenance of health behaviors, Applied Psychology: An International Review, 57, 1-29.
citation: Godinho CA, Alvarez MJ, Lima ML, Schwarzer R. Will is not enough: coping planning and action control as mediators in the prediction of fruit and vegetable intake. Br J Health Psychol. 2014 Nov;19(4):856-70. doi: 10.1111/bjhp.12084. Epub 2013 Dec 6.
citation: Rosas R, Pimenta F, Leal I, Schwarzer R. FOODLIT-PRO: conceptual and empirical development of the food literacy wheel. Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2021 Feb;72(1):99-111. doi: 10.1080/09637486.2020.1762547. Epub 2020 May 13.
citation: Rosas R, Pimenta F, Leal I, Schwarzer R. FOODLIT-PRO: Food Literacy Domains, Influential Factors and Determinants-A Qualitative Study. Nutrients. 2019 Dec 27;12(1):88. doi: 10.3390/nu12010088.
citation: Michie S, Richardson M, Johnston M, Abraham C, Francis J, Hardeman W, Eccles MP, Cane J, Wood CE. The behavior change technique taxonomy (v1) of 93 hierarchically clustered techniques: building an international consensus for the reporting of behavior change interventions. Ann Behav Med. 2013 Aug;46(1):81-95. doi: 10.1007/s12160-013-9486-6.