Behavioral Economics to Implement a Traffic Light Nutrition Ranking System: Study 2

Diet, Healthy Clinical Trial

— BeWell  

Official title:

Behavioral Economics to Implement a Traffic Light Nutrition Ranking System in a Network of Food Pantries: Study 2

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Not yet recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT06298253
• Other study ID #: 2024P000832
• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: October 2024
• Est. completion date: June 2028

Study information

• Verified date: May 2024
• Source: Massachusetts General Hospital
• Contact: Anne N Thorndike, MD, MPH
• Phone: 617-724-4608
• Email: athorndike[@]mgh.harvard.edu
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial 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.

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.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Enrollment: 3750
• Est. completion date: June 2028
• Est. primary completion date: July 2027
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 90 Years

Eligibility

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.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Behavioral Economics
• Diet, Healthy
• Food Insecurity
• Implementation Science

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Behavioral 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.
• Basic SWAP implementation
Intervention will include basic information about the SWAP program and encouragement to obtain SWAP toolkits.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
n/a

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Massachusetts General Hospital

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Pantry SWAP implementation	Proportion of pantries in the intervention vs. control group that implement SWAP (e.g., traffic-light labels on shelves)	6 months and 12 months
Primary	Percent items (by weight) ordered by pantry that are labeled green or red	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	6 months and 12 months
Primary	Percent of pantry clients' selected food that is green or red	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	6 months and 12 months
Primary	Client dietary quality score	Rapid Prime Dietary Quality Score (range 0 to 52, higher is healthier) collected at the time clients are leaving the pantry	6 months and 12 months
Secondary	Skin carotenoid level	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)	6 months and 12 months