Clinical trial NCT06119165: Impact of Environmental Nudges on Dietary Quality
Official title: Impact of Environmental Nudges on Dietary Quality
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Healthy Diet
Lead sponsor: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Wellcome Trust
First posted: 2023-11-07
Enrollment: 2132
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 25
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: Purpose: The overall purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of a suite of environmentally focused nudges on the nutritional quality of consumers' food selections.

Participants: \~2,000 US adults ages 18-25, at least 25% currently enrolled full-time in college, recruited from CloudResearch Prime Panels.

Procedures: Participants will be randomly assigned to view food products with or without environmental nudges (eco-labels, peer comparison message, and swaps). They will be asked to select items that they most wish to purchase and will then be asked a series of questions about the products and nudges. Questions will also include standard socio-demographic variables.

Detailed description: Participants will be recruited from CloudResearch Prime Panels (an online panel research company). Study participants include 2,000 young adults between 18 and 25 years old with at least 25% currently enrolled in college, recruited to match census distribution of race/ethnicity and gender. Participants will electronically acknowledge their consent to participate in the study.

On the study platform (Qualtrics), participants will be randomly assigned to 1 of 2 arms with equal probability. Participants will complete a shopping task via an online 9-minute survey. They will view products displayed as if they were offered from a grocery store. Products will be frozen meals, such as burritos and pizza, snack items such as dried fruit and chips, and protein items, such as ground beef and chicken breasts. They will then be instructed to select 1 item they most wish to purchase from each category.

Participants in the experimental arm will shop and receive environmental nudges in the form of labels, feedback, peer comparisons, and suggested product swaps. In the control arm, participants will conduct online shopping tasks without any environmental nudges. After selecting products, participants will answer questions about the products and labels, as well as standard socio-demographic questions.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion criteria:

* 18 to 25 years old
* Currently resides in the United States

Exclusion criteria:

* Completion of the survey in \<1/3 of the median completion time

Primary outcomes:
measure: Nutri-Score Scores
timeFrame: Immediately after exposure to intervention and product selection task, assessed during 1-time online study visit
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Carbon Footprint
timeFrame: Immediately after exposure to intervention and product selection task, assessed during 1-time online study visit
measure: Acceptability of Eco-Label Intervention
timeFrame: Immediately after exposure to intervention and product selection task, assessed during 1-time online study visit
measure: Acceptability of Swaps Intervention
timeFrame: Immediately after exposure to intervention and product selection task, assessed during 1-time online study visit
measure: Acceptability of Peer Comparison Message Intervention
timeFrame: Immediately after exposure to intervention and product selection task, assessed during 1-time online study visit
measure: Health Elaboration
timeFrame: Immediately after exposure to intervention and product selection task, assessed during 1-time online study visit
measure: Taste Elaboration
timeFrame: Immediately after exposure to intervention and product selection task, assessed during 1-time online study visit
measure: Cost Elaboration
timeFrame: Immediately after exposure to intervention and product selection task, assessed during 1-time online study visit
measure: Environmental Sustainability Elaboration
timeFrame: Immediately after exposure to intervention and product selection task, assessed during 1-time online study visit
measure: Perceived Healthfulness of Sustainable Products
timeFrame: Immediately after exposure to intervention and product selection task, assessed during 1-time online study visit
measure: Perceived Healthfulness of Unsustainable Products
timeFrame: Immediately after exposure to intervention and product selection task, assessed during 1-time online study visit
measure: Perceived Sustainability of Sustainable Products
timeFrame: Immediately after exposure to intervention and product selection task, assessed during 1-time online study visit
measure: Perceived Sustainability of Unsustainable Products
timeFrame: Immediately after exposure to intervention and product selection task, assessed during 1-time online study visit
measure: Purchase Intentions of Sustainable Products
timeFrame: Immediately after exposure to intervention and product selection task, assessed during 1-time online study visit
measure: Purchase Intentions of Unsustainable Products
timeFrame: Immediately after exposure to intervention and product selection task, assessed during 1-time online study visit
measure: Injunctive Norms
timeFrame: Immediately after exposure to intervention and product selection task, assessed during 1-time online study visit
measure: Descriptive Norms
timeFrame: Immediately after exposure to intervention and product selection task, assessed during 1-time online study visit
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Chapel Hill
country: United States
facility: UNC Carolina Population Center
state: North Carolina
Study officials:
affiliation: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
name: Lindsey Smith Taillie, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Stanford University
name: Anna H Grummon, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: