The impact of a healthy food discount on diet quality and healthy food affordability among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children in remote Australia.

Conditions

None listed

Brief summary

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people residing in remote communities experience the highest reported rates of food insecurity in Australia. We will test an intervention to improve diet quality for women and children, by making healthy food and drinks more affordable. Price discounts on a range of healthy food and drinks will be accessible to participants via loyalty cards, with discounts being advertised in store and locations frequented by the participant group. This research will enhance our understanding of the impact of price discounts on diet quality. We hypothesise that participants in intervention vs. control communities will have a greater increase in dietary quality from baseline.

Emma Tonkin, Mark D. Chatfield, Julie Brimblecombe, Sue Kleve, Ellie Chan et al. (15 authors)

BMC Public Health2025-05-012 citations

10.1186/s12889-025-22815-z

Communities Setting the Direction for Their Right to Nutritious, Affordable Food: Co-Design of the Remote Food Security Project in Australian Indigenous Communities

Megan Ferguson, Emma Tonkin, Julie Brimblecombe, Amanda Lee, Bronwyn Fredericks et al. (12 authors)

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health2023-02-0817 citations

10.3390/ijerph20042936

Interventions

Brief name: Healthy food discount. The intervention will provide eligible participants with a loyalty card which will give access to a 30% discount on a range of healthy food and drinks, in the community store. All discounted food and drinks will fit within the five food groups and healthy fat group and will exclude infant formula. Materials: Participants will be provided with a loyalty card and informed of discounted products through promotional material. Procedures: Participants will be al

Brief name: Healthy food discount. The intervention will provide eligible participants with a loyalty card which will give access to a 30% discount on a range of healthy food and drinks, in the community store. All discounted food and drinks will fit within the five food groups and healthy fat group and will exclude infant formula. Materials: Participants will be provided with a loyalty card and informed of discounted products through promotional material. Procedures: Participants will be allocated to one of three capped fortnightly discount levels each: level 1 will provide $80 discount value for a family with one eligible person; level 2, $100 discount value for a family with two eligible people; and level 3, $120 discount value for a family with three or more eligible people. The loyalty card, once scanned, will unlock the discount as the product’s barcode or price look-up (PLU) is scanned. Once the discount level is reached, no further discounts will be applied for that period. Who: The research team will provide loyalty cards to eligible participants. The healthy food and drink price discount will be implemented through participating stores. Mode of delivery: face to face. Duration: 3-6 months depending on time of study start. All stores will cease the discount after 6 months, or in December, whichever comes first. Stores beginning the discount later in the year will have a shorter period of discount, however no store shall have a discount period shorter than 3 months. Location: community store. Adherence: loyalty card data will be collected to monitor adherence to the intervention. Research staff will also conduct monthly visits to discuss adherence with store managers and community leaders, and review and refresh in-store promotional material as required.

Study design

Allocation

Non-randomised trial

Primary purpose

Prevention

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

6 Months to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

Community eligibility: Stores operating within remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia which have: i) previous or expressed commitment from councils, health boards or health action teams or other local governing bodies to support food and nutrition projects; ii) existence of strong community groups; and iii) the store operates a point-of-sale system to support the delivery of the healthy food and drink price discount. Inclusion criteria for participants within eligible communities: Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander pregnant women, women breastfeeding children aged up to 5 years, and parents/primary carers of children aged six months to five years who identify as a resident and plan to reside in the community until the end of the intervention.

Exclusion criteria

None

Outcome results