Food Selection
Conditions
Keywords
food insecurity
Brief summary
This study is a pilot evaluation of the Healthy Pantry Program, a new behavioral economics-based training that allows pantry staff to learn how to implement nudges integrating traffic-light nutrition labeling and a healthy recipe database in the pantry environment. The hypothesis is that participation the Healthy Pantry Program will lead to increases in pantry purchases of healthy foods.
Detailed description
Food insecurity affects more than one in 10 Americans and is associated with poor nutrition and adverse health outcomes, including diabetes, hypertension, and mental health issues. Many food-insecure individuals use food pantries, which provide charitable food, to supplement household food needs. The emergence of client-choice food pantries, where individuals can select the foods they take home, provides a novel opportunity to intervene on the diets of food pantry clients. This study evaluates the Healthy Pantry Program (HPP) in a sample of 10 food pantries in the greater Boston area. Pantries will be matched on baseline characteristics and randomized 1:1 into participation in HPP (intervention) or wait list (control). Outcomes data will be collected at the pantry and client level. The aims of the study are as follows: Aim 1: To evaluate whether HPP is associated with increased healthy food purchases from the food bank by intervention food pantries compared to control food pantries. Aim 2: To evaluate whether HPP is associated with increases in the availability of healthy food in intervention food pantries compared to control food pantries. Aim 3: To evaluate whether HPP is associated with an increase in healthy food selection and dietary intake by clients of intervention food pantries compared to clients of control food pantries, using a cross-sectional sample of 400 food pantry clients at baseline and 400 food pantry clients at 6-month follow up.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALHealthy Pantry Program
Food pantries will receive the Healthy Pantry Program online training, which will be completed by at least one pantry staff member and teaches pantry staff a novel traffic-light nutrition labeling system, a multilingual healthy recipe database, and how to use those and other behavioral economic strategies to implement simple interventions in the food pantry to promote client selection of healthier options. Onsite support by a registered dietitian is included.
OTHERWaitlist Control
Normal food pantry use for duration of the 9-month study period. Control pantries will have access to the Healthy Pantry Program after study is completed.
Sponsors
Greater Boston Food Bank
Massachusetts General Hospital
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Pantry Inclusion Criteria: * maximum client-choice (clients can choose all items that they take from pantry) * operate at least once weekly * affiliated with the Greater Boston Food Bank Pantry
Exclusion criteria
* not affiliated with the Greater Boston Food Bank * operating less than once weekly * not a maximum client-choice food pantry * \>1 hr drive from Boston * \<50 clients on average per open day Client Inclusion Criteria (for cross-sectional surveys at baseline and 6-month follow up): * ≥18 years old * pantry client * speaks English or Spanish Client
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly change in proportion of green-labeled foods purchased by food pantries from the food bank | Collected from the electronic ordering system at baseline and prospectively each month for 9 months | Monthly change from baseline values of healthier foods purchased by pantries from the food bank in the proportion of green-labeled foods. |
| Monthly change in the Healthy Purchasing Score of foods purchased by food pantries from the food bank | Collected from the electronic ordering system at baseline and prospectively each month for 9 months | Monthly change from baseline values of healthier foods purchased by pantries from the food bank in a weighted Healthy Purchasing Score that includes all foods (range: 0-1, higher scores represent healthier selection) |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in food availability at food pantries | Assessed at baseline and 6 months | Change from baseline in food availability score using the Healthy Food Pantry Assessment Tool (range: 0-45, higher scores represent greater food availability) |
| Change in healthier food selection by pantry clients | Assessed at baseline and 6 months | Change from baseline in pantry basket inventories of pantry clients measured by the proportion of green-labeled foods for each basket |
| Change in self-reported fruit and vegetable intake of pantry clients | Assessed at baseline and 6 months | Change from baseline fruit and vegetable intake in cup equivalents measured by the Dietary Screener from the California Health Information Survey 2005 |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed