Mobile Goal-setting Intervention to Improve Vegetable Intake Among Young College Students

Effectiveness of Self-Monitoring and Goal Setting on Improving Consumption of Red/Orange Vegetables Among Undergraduate Students: A Pre-Posttest Experiment

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT04242693

Enrollment

281

Registered

2020-01-27

Start date

2018-02-18

Completion date

2018-04-25

Last updated

2020-01-27

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Diet, Healthy

Brief summary

This study used a two-group pre-posttest experimental design. After completing a background survey, participants used their smartphones to uploaded photos and/or descriptions of their meals to an online platform for three days. In addition, those in the intervention group were asked to use a checklist to count the number of times they ate red/orange vegetables and to set a goal to eat one more time the next day. The dependent variable was a measure of eating behavior-an estimate (number of times/day) of red/orange vegetable intake on that day based on review of uploaded photos and descriptions. Those in the intervention group, who were asked to use a checklist to count their red/orange vegetable intake and set a goal to eat one more the next day, improved their vegetable intake.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALMobile goal-setting intervention

This intervention applied two constructs from the goal setting theory-self-monitoring and goal setting. Briefly, all participants were asked to take photos of all their meals and upload them with descriptions to an online platform. The participants in the experimental group were taken through two additional processes that represented these two constructs. Self-monitoring was operationalized by asking those in the experimental group to count the number of times they ate red/orange vegetables using a counting checklist. Goal setting was operationalized as asking them to set a goal to eat red/orange vegetables one more time tomorrow.

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE (Subject)

Intervention model description

Participants were randomized to either an experimental or a control group after they completed a preliminary questionnaire.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to 23 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Aged 18 and above * Undergraduate at the university * Currently lived in a dorm * Owned a smartphone * Had internet access on their smartphone

Exclusion criteria

* Already part of a study to change their eating behaviors

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Red/orange vegetable intake	Three days	Number of times participants consumed red/orange vegetables

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026