Impact of Online Ordering on Low-Income Adults' Food Security in Online Food Pantry Settings

NYU Langone Health

Status: Completed

Conditions: Food Security

Treatments: Behavioral: Transition to Online Ordering

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT05752721

22-01523

Details and patient eligibility

About

The primary objectives of this study are to determine whether the transition to online ordering at a choice-based food pantry network influences food security status among low-income adults and determining whether there are differences in impact by age group.

Enrollment: 204 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• aged 18 years or older
• have visited a food pantry that either is or is not scheduled to transition to online ordering at least once
• have capacity and willingness to provide consent
• speaks English

Exclusion criteria

• aged less than 18 years
• have not visited a food pantry that either is or is not scheduled to transition to online ordering at least once
• does not speak English

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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204 participants in 2 patient groups

Food Pantry Scheduled to Transition to Online Ordering

Experimental group

Description:

Low-income adults who have visited the food pantry that is scheduled to transition to online ordering at least once. Participants will complete an in-person survey and a research assistant will record the food items they received in the relevant visit to the pantry. After the transition to online ordering at the intervention food pantry, participants will again complete the survey. Food selections for participants in the this arm will be accessible through the online ordering platform.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Transition to Online Ordering

Food Pantry NOT Scheduled to Transition to Online Ordering

No Intervention group

Description:

Low-income adults who have visited the food pantry that is NOT scheduled to transition to online ordering at least once. Participants will complete an in-person survey and a research assistant will record the food items they received in the relevant visit to the pantry. After the transition to online ordering at the intervention food pantry, participants will again complete the survey. Participants in this arm will record their food selections and send them to the study team.