Clinical trial NCT04064775: The Influence of Fictitious Peers in a Social Media Intervention for Downsizing Portions: The Smart Snacking Studies
Official title: The Influence of Fictitious Peers in a Social Media Intervention for Downsizing Portions: The Smart Snacking Studies
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Eating Behavior
Social Psychology
Keywords: Social influence
Peer influence
Lead sponsor: University of Leeds
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Coventry University
name: Penn State University
First posted: 2019-08-22
Enrollment: 44
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 13
Maximum age (years): 16
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: 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.
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

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.

Detailed description: Two pilot interventions were conducted which examined the influence of peer-led nudging on social media as a way of influencing self-reported ideal portions of high energy-dense snacks and sugar-sweetened beverages. In both interventions the peers posted images of 'their' snacks and beverages, which constituted the recommended portion, onto an Instagram account. The peers also posted images relating to portion sizes, calories and other information related to health but not specifically portion size. It was hypothesised that viewing images of peers' snacks would influence the participants to reduce their own snack and beverage ideal portion sizes.

Intervention 1 lasted for 2 weeks and recruited young adults and used a within-subjects design. Intervention 2 lasted for 4 weeks and recruited adolescents and used a between-subjects design. In intervention 2, participants were randomly assigned to either the intervention or the control condition. This protocol focusses on intervention 2.

In both interventions, participants in the intervention condition were added to an Instagram account and were required to visit Instagram daily and to like all posts. All participants (intervention and control) completed a survey at baseline and at the end of the intervention, and completed quizzes at the end of each week.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

13-16 years old (intervention 2)

Exclusion Criteria:

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

Primary outcomes:
measure: Self-reported ideal portion size
timeFrame: Baseline at the beginning of week 1 and intervention end at the end of week 4.
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Perceptions of peers' ideal portion sizes
timeFrame: Baseline at the beginning of week 1 and intervention end at the end of week 4
measure: Participants liking and frequency of consumption of high energy dense snack foods and sugar-sweetened beverages
timeFrame: Baseline at the beginning of week 1 and intervention end at the end of week 4
measure: Participants' intentions regarding their portions
timeFrame: Baseline at the beginning of week 1 and intervention end at the end of week 4
Other outcomes:
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