Behavioral Economics to Implement Nutrition Ranking in Food Pantries

Food Insecurity Clinical Trial

Official title:

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

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Not yet recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05854212
• Other study ID #: 2023p001207
• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: November 2024
• Est. completion date: June 2028

Study information

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

Clinical Trial Summary

The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to test whether using behavioral economic strategies to promote healthy food choices on a food bank's online ordering platform increases the use of the traffic light nutrition ranking system and increases healthier food selections by the food agencies (e.g., food pantries) who use the food bank.

Description:

This study will use behavioral economic strategies to promote utilization of traffic-light nutrition ranking in the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) order system to improve the dietary quality of food ordered by GBFB agencies. Supporting Wellness at Pantries (SWAP) is a program to guide both traffic light labeling for use on ordering platforms and pantry shelves, as well as food pantry layout to inform clients and encourage healthy food choice.This study is a collaboration with the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) to test BE strategies (choice architecture, framing, social norms) for implementation of an evidence-based intervention (traffic light nutrition ranking, SWAP). We will determine if behavioral economic interventions on the GBFB online ordering platform increase agencies' use of traffic light nutrition labels when placing orders and increases their healthy food orders. We will conduct a 12-month randomized controlled trial comparing agencies' ordering experiences and outcomes with the current user interface (control) to a "SWAP-enhanced" user interface (intervention). All GBFB partner agencies will be randomized to see either the control or intervention interfaces when they log on to ShopGBFB, GBFB's online food ordering platform. In the next phase, the SWAP-enhanced ShopGBFB interface will be updated, adapted, and implemented for all 600 agencies. Outcomes will be monitored for 30 additional months.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Enrollment: 600
• Est. completion date: June 2028
• Est. primary completion date: February 2026
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Food agencies that order food from the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) online ordering platform.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Food agencies that do not order food from the GBFB online platform within 2 months of the start of the study.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Behavioral Economics
• Dietary Quality
• Food Insecurity
• Implementation Science

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Behavioral economics-enhanced user interface
The intervention changes the ordering platform visible to food agencies using behavioral economics strategies to promote healthier food choices.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
n/a

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Massachusetts General Hospital

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Healthy food agency orders from the food bank	This will be the change from baseline to 12 months in the percentage of foods ordered (by weight) that have green labels.	12 months
Secondary	Proportion of agencies that ever used the traffic light label sorting or filtering when ordering from the food bank	This outcome will be the proportion of agencies in the intervention vs. control group that use the traffic-light sorting/filtering when making orders during the 12 month intervention period.	12 months