Healthy Eating
Conditions
Keywords
Food Access, Food Security, Fruits and Vegetables, Low-Income
Brief summary
The proposed project, Nutrition Ed, Access and Texting (NEAT): Combining the Hartford Mobile Market with e-Marketing , uses an e-technology social marketing strategy to promote use of a recently launched mobile produce market among SNAP-Ed recipients. This study will potentially increase fresh produce access and intake by combining an innovative food system change (produce mobile market) with existing SNAP-Ed nutrition education curriculum and the use of e-marketing technology.
Detailed description
The proposed project, Nutrition Ed, Access and Texting (NEAT): Combining the Hartford Mobile Market with e-Marketing uses an e-technology social marketing strategy to promote use of a recently launched mobile produce market among SNAP-Ed recipients. This study will potentially increase fresh produce access and intake by combining an innovative food system change (produce mobile market) with existing SNAP-Ed nutrition education curriculum and the use of e-marketing technology. Thus, the study combines key elements that have been deemed necessary for increasing produce intake among low income communities. The goal of the NEAT study is to assess the impact of a texting-based social marketing campaign on SNAP-Ed participants' access to and purchase of fresh produce on a recently launched mobile produce market, and their subsequent produce intake. Objectives include: 1) Compare the impact of nutrition education alone to nutrition education plus promotional text messaging on purchase of fruits and vegetables; 2) Compare the impact of nutrition education alone to nutrition education plus promotional text messaging on consumption of fruits and vegetables; and 3) Assess the effectiveness of coupon distribution on coupon redemption at a mobile produce market. The NEAT design will be a randomized controlled trial using a pre-post assessment comparing change in behavior. Both intervention and control groups will receive SNAP-Ed education as currently delivered by the Hispanic Health Council. The intervention group will receive additional promotional text messaging related to use of the mobile market. The control group will receive text messaging about free activities taking place at the Hartford Public Library and other community locations. Participants will be interviewed via phone at baseline, then randomized to intervention and control groups, and re-interviewed again 6 weeks after they start receiving the text messages, which it will be 2 weeks after the one-month texting period ends.
Interventions
OTHERMobile
Sponsors
Yale University
Cornell University
Sofia Segura-Pérez
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Intervention model description
Baseline interviews will be conducted after participation in nutrition education activity. Upon completing baseline, participants will be randomized into intervention (HMM text messaging) or control (non-health-related texting) groups. Texting will begin the day after randomization is completed and will occur once daily during business days for a duration of one month. In addition to HMM access messages, intervention group participants will receive texts with links to four $5.00 incentive coupons for the Hartford Mobile Market, one during each of the four weeks that the texting will take place. Follow-up interviews will be conducted two weeks after the end of the one-month texting period.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* SNAP eligible participants with children under 5 years old living at home. * Living in Hartford, CT. * Having a cell phone with unlimited smart phone data plans.
Exclusion criteria
* Not living in Hartford Less than 18 years old
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in self reported usage of the Hartford Mobile Market for buying fresh produce | baseline and at 6 weeks follow up | self-reported participant's usage of mobile market (yes/no) |
| Change in vegetables eating behaviors. Increase consumption of fruits and vegetables | Baseline and 6 weeks follow up | Measured with a 5 item continuous scale from vegetables from fruit and vegetable inventory validated by Townsend et.al. |
| Change in amount of money spent on fruits and vegetables. | Baseline and at 6 week follow up | self-reported amount of money spent on fresh produce per month. |
| Change in amount of money spent on fruits. | Baseline and at 6 week follow up | self-reported amount of money spent on fruit per week. |
| Change in amount of money spent on vegetables. | Baseline and at 6 week follow up | self-reported amount of money spent on vegetables per week. |
| Change in consumption of fruits | Baseline and 6 weeks follow up | Measured with one question about daily consumption of fruits from a seven item fruit and vegetable checklist developed by Townsend et.al. |
| Change in consumption of vegetables. | Baseline and 6 weeks follow up | Measured with a one question from a seven item fruit and vegetable checklist developed by Townsend et.al. |
| Change in fruits eating behaviors Increase consumption of fruits and vegetables | Baseline and 6 weeks follow up | Measured with a readiness 5 item continuous scale item for fruits from fruit and vegetable inventory validated by Townsend et.al. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Participant's satisfaction with e-texting messages (likeness) | 6 weeks follow up | Self reported satisfaction with nutrition messages using a 5- likert scale (like it very much to dislike it very much) |
| Participant's assessment of usefulness of the messages | 6 weeks follow up | Self reported continuous 4 likert scale from not useful to very much useful. |
| Participant's assessment of usefulness of the coupons | 6 week follow up | Self reported continuous 4 likert scale from not useful to very much useful. |
| Participant utilization of coupons | 6 week follow up | Based on one yes/no question about coupon redemption |
Outcome results
None listed