Behavioral Economics to Implement a Traffic Light Nutrition Ranking System: Study 2
Purpose
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.
Conditions
- Food Insecurity
- Implementation Science
- Diet, Healthy
- Behavioral Economics
Eligibility
- Eligible Ages
- Between 18 Years and 90 Years
- Eligible Sex
- All
- Accepts 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.
Study Design
- Phase
- N/A
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Intervention Model
- Parallel Assignment
- Primary Purpose
- Prevention
- Masking
- None (Open Label)
Arm Groups
| Arm | Description | Assigned Intervention |
|---|---|---|
|
Experimental Behavioral economics-enhanced SWAP implementation strategy |
Pantries assigned to the intervention group will receive behavioral nudges for implementing the SWAP nutrition program. These include: 1) invoice labeling with the food labeled as red, yellow, or green; 2) receipt of the SWAP toolkit at no cost; 3) pantry learning communities; 4)incentives to purchase SWAP implementation materials (e.g., shelves); 5) food bank recognition for SWAP implementation. |
|
|
Active Comparator Basic SWAP implementation strategy |
Pantries assigned to the control arm will receive email communication from the food bank dietitian providing them with information about SWAP, online links to SWAP implementation guides, and encouragement to purchase SWAP Toolkits on their own. |
|
Recruiting Locations
Boston, Massachusetts 02114
More Details
- Status
- Recruiting
- Sponsor
- Massachusetts General Hospital
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.