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

Mass General Brigham

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Implementation Science; Food Insecurity; Diet, Healthy; Behavioral Economics

Treatments: Behavioral: Basic SWAP implementation; Behavioral: Behavioral economics-enhanced SWAP implementation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06298253

2024P000832

Details and patient eligibility

About

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.

Full 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.

Enrollment: 3,750 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 90 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

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.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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3,750 participants in 2 patient groups

Behavioral economics-enhanced SWAP implementation strategy

Experimental group

Description:

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.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Behavioral economics-enhanced SWAP implementation

Basic SWAP implementation strategy

Active Comparator group

Description:

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.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Basic SWAP implementation