NCT04243252

A Trial of Traffic Light Labeling With Behavioral Nudges and a Healthy Recipe Database to Increase Selection of Healthier Foods in Client-choice Food Pantries

Healthy Pantry Program Intervention Evaluation (HAPPIE)

• Status: Terminated
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 3 (actual)
• Sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

This study is a pilot evaluation of the Healthy Pantry Program, a new behavioral economics-based training that allows pantry staff to learn how to implement nudges integrating traffic-light nutrition labeling and a healthy recipe database in the pantry environment. The hypothesis is that participation the Healthy Pantry Program will lead to increases in pantry purchases of healthy foods.

Detailed description

Food insecurity affects more than one in 10 Americans and is associated with poor nutrition and adverse health outcomes, including diabetes, hypertension, and mental health issues. Many food-insecure individuals use food pantries, which provide charitable food, to supplement household food needs. The emergence of client-choice food pantries, where individuals can select the foods they take home, provides a novel opportunity to intervene on the diets of food pantry clients. This study evaluates the Healthy Pantry Program (HPP) in a sample of 10 food pantries in the greater Boston area. Pantries will be matched on baseline characteristics and randomized 1:1 into participation in HPP (intervention) or wait list (control). Outcomes data will be collected at the pantry and client level. The aims of the study are as follows: Aim 1: To evaluate whether HPP is associated with increased healthy food purchases from the food bank by intervention food pantries compared to control food pantries. Aim 2: To evaluate whether HPP is associated with increases in the availability of healthy food in intervention food pantries compared to control food pantries. Aim 3: To evaluate whether HPP is associated with an increase in healthy food selection and dietary intake by clients of intervention food pantries compared to clients of control food pantries, using a cross-sectional sample of 400 food pantry clients at baseline and 400 food pantry clients at 6-month follow up.

Conditions

• Food Selection

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Healthy Pantry Program	Food pantries will receive the Healthy Pantry Program online training, which will be completed by at least one pantry staff member and teaches pantry staff a novel traffic-light nutrition labeling system, a multilingual healthy recipe database, and how to use those and other behavioral economic strategies to implement simple interventions in the food pantry to promote client selection of healthier options. Onsite support by a registered dietitian is included.
OTHER	Waitlist Control	Normal food pantry use for duration of the 9-month study period. Control pantries will have access to the Healthy Pantry Program after study is completed.

Timeline

• Start date: 2020-03-05
• Primary completion: 2020-03-12
• Completion: 2020-03-12
• First posted: 2020-01-28
• Last updated: 2021-06-18

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States