Behavioral Economics to Implement a Traffic Light Nutrition Ranking System: Study 2
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age18-90
SponsorMassachusetts General Hospital
About this trial
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.
Eligibility criteria
This trial accepts healthy volunteersQualifiers
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.
Disqualifiers
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.
Trial design
Design model
Parallel
Treatments tested in this trial
Behavioral economics-enhanced SWAP implementation
BehavioralIntervention will include behavioral nudges at baseline and over 12 months to promote use of the SWAP nutrition program for pantries.
Basic SWAP implementation
BehavioralIntervention will include basic information about the SWAP program and encouragement to obtain SWAP toolkits.
Treatment groups
3,750 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groupsGroup A: Behavioral economics-enhanced SWAP implementation strategyExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Group B: Basic SWAP implementation strategyActive comparator 1 intervention
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
1
Pantry SWAP implementation
Proportion of pantries in the intervention vs. control group that implement SWAP (e.g., traffic-light labels on shelves)
Time frame
6 months and 12 months2
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
Time frame
6 months and 12 months3
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
Time frame
6 months and 12 months4
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
Time frame
6 months and 12 monthsSecondary outcomes
1
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)
Time frame
6 months and 12 monthsSponsors and contacts
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Source ClinicalTrials.gov