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

Part of paid clinical trials in Boston, Massachusetts.

Sponsor
Massachusetts General Hospital
Study ID
NCT06298253
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

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

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
18 Years - 90 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Accepted

Interventions

  • Behavioral economics-enhanced SWAP implementation — BEHAVIORAL
    Intervention will include behavioral nudges at baseline and over 12 months to promote use of the SWAP nutrition program for pantries.
  • Basic SWAP implementation — BEHAVIORAL
    Intervention will include basic information about the SWAP program and encouragement to obtain SWAP toolkits.

Study Details

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.

Key Dates

Start date
Oct 1, 2024
Status verified
Apr 2025
Primary completion
Jun 1, 2027
Completion
Jun 30, 2028

Study Design

Enrollment
3,750 participants (estimated)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION

Arms

  • 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.

Primary Outcome Measure

Pantry SWAP implementation [ Time Frame: 6 months and 12 months ]

Central Contacts

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
Massachusetts General HospitalBostonMassachusetts02114
Anne Thorndike, MD, MPH
[email protected]
617-724-4608
Douglas Levy, PhD
[email protected]
617-643-3595
Anne Thorndike, MD, MPH (PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR)
Douglas Levy, PhD (PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR)

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By research site
Massachusetts General Hospital· Boston, MA

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