Behavioral Economics, Diet, Healthy, Food Insecurity, Implementation Science
Conditions
Brief summary
This is a cluster randomized controlled trial of 30 food pantries affiliated with the Greater Boston Food Bank to test the use of behavioral economics (BE) tools to encourage food pantries to implement the Supporting Wellness at Pantries (SWAP) program, with the goal of fostering accurate use of SWAP traffic light labels on pantry shelves and increasing the healthfulness of foods chosen by pantry clients. Primary outcomes will be assessed at 6 and 12 months to compare the implementation and effectiveness of the SWAP program in the intervention vs. control pantries.
Detailed description
This study will test the use of behavioral economics (BE) tools to encourage food pantries to implement the Supporting Wellness at Pantries (SWAP) program, with the goal of encouraging pantries to use SWAP traffic light labels on pantry shelves and increase the healthfulness of foods chosen by pantry clients. The study design is a 12-month cluster RCT of 30 Greater Boston Food Bank partner pantries comparing a basic SWAP implementation strategy (control, n=15) with a BE-enhanced SWAP implementation strategy (intervention, n=15). Primary outcomes assessed at 6 and 12 months will be implementation of the SWAP program within pantries and improvement of client food choices and dietary quality. At the end of 12 months, the BE-enhanced SWAP implementation strategy will be adapted, updated, and offered to the 15 pantries assigned to control (waitlist) at baseline. The 15 intervention pantries will be followed without further intervention.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALBehavioral economics-enhanced SWAP implementation
Intervention will include behavioral nudges at baseline and over 12 months to promote use of the SWAP nutrition program for pantries.
BEHAVIORALBasic SWAP implementation
Intervention will include basic information about the SWAP program and encouragement to obtain SWAP toolkits.
Sponsors
Massachusetts General Hospital
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 90 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Food pantries enrolled in the study will be partner agencies of the Greater Boston Food Bank that are maximum client choice, are located within approximately 1 hour driving time of Boston (for logistical feasibility), and are not actively using traffic-light nutrition ranking. * Food pantry clients that complete assessments must be 18 years or older and speak English or Spanish.
Exclusion criteria
* Food pantries that are not affiliated with the Greater Boston Food Bank and are not maximum client choice. * Food pantry clients that do not speak English or Spanish.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Pantry SWAP implementation | 6 months and 12 months | Proportion of pantries in the intervention vs. control group that implement SWAP (e.g., traffic-light labels on shelves) |
| Percent items (by weight) ordered by pantry that are labeled green or red | 6 months and 12 months | Using data collected from the food bank ordering platform, this outcome will be the proportions (by weight) of the overall orders from GBFB that are green-labeled and red-labeled according to SWAP ranking categories |
| Percent of pantry clients' selected food that is green or red | 6 months and 12 months | Using pantry client basket assessments, the total proportion (by weight) of food selected by the client that is labeled green (or red) will be calculated for each participant |
| Client dietary quality score | 6 months and 12 months | Rapid Prime Dietary Quality Score (range 0 to 52, higher is healthier) collected at the time clients are leaving the pantry |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Skin carotenoid level | 6 months and 12 months | Measured using the Veggie Meter scale at the time clients leave the pantry; range is 0 to 800 units, with higher scores indicating higher carotenoid levels (and therefore higher fruit and vegetable intake) |
Countries
United States
Contacts
Primary ContactAnne N Thorndike, MD, MPH
Backup ContactDouglas Levy, PhD
Outcome results
None listed