Targeted Food Incentives to Improve Diet Quality and Health Among Adults (Smartcart)

University of Rhode Island

Status: Completed

Conditions: Diet Habit; Diet Modification

Treatments: Behavioral: Nominal loyalty card discount and nutrition education; Behavioral: Targeted incentives

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03748056

AWD05956 , Project 0006418 (Other Grant/Funding Number)

1240194-3

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to test whether individual-level targeted price incentives for healthier foods can improve the diet quality of grocery purchases made by adults in comparison to a "one size fits all" approach. To test this, the investigators plan to implement a 8-month randomized controlled cross-over trial. The intervention group will receive a small discount for using their loyalty card and weekly coupons for healthier foods (e.g. fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats and seafood, low-fat dairy) that are selected based on the individual's past purchase history, dietary preferences, their baseline diet quality, and their estimated likelihood of using the coupon. Individualized coupons will be automatically sent to customers' loyalty cards each week, and separate emails with appropriate nutrition education and information about the coupons will be sent to participants weekly. The control group will receive a small discount for using their loyalty cards during the first phase of the study (3-months), occasional untargeted coupons, and weekly emails with untargeted nutrition education. Following phase1, there will be a 2-month washout period, and then the intervention and control groups will cross over for the remaining 3-months of the study. The investigators will collect purchase data from all participants as well as food frequency questionnaires and other self-reported behavioral and health questions at baseline, after phase 1 completion, and after phase 2 completion. The investigators hypothesize that participants in the intervention group will meaningfully improve the overall quality of their food purchases (measured using the Grocery Purchase Quality Index-2016) as well as their overall diet quality (measured using the Healthy Eating Index 2010.

Full description

A detailed description of Eligibility and outcome measures is entered elsewhere

Enrollment: 224 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 18 years or older
• Speaks English
• Non-store employee
• Primary shopper in the household
• Purchases at least half of weekly groceries at supermarket
• Not pregnant or planning on becoming pregnant before April 2019

Exclusion criteria

• Younger than 18 years of age
• Does not speak English
• Employee at supermarket
• Pregnant or planning to become pregnant before April 2019
• Not primary shopper for household
• Purchases less than half of weekly groceries at supermarket

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Crossover Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

---

224 participants in 2 patient groups

Targeted incentives arm

Experimental group

Description:

The interventions received by the experimental group include: 1) weekly emails with targeted coupons for healthier products, 2) weekly emails with targeted nutrition education, and 3) and a nominal discount on grocery purchases for using their loyalty card

Treatment:

Behavioral: Targeted incentives

Behavioral: Nominal loyalty card discount and nutrition education

Usual care arm

Active Comparator group

Description:

The interventions included under "usual care" include 1) untargeted nutrition education, 2) occasional untargeted coupons for healthier products, and 3) a nominal discount on their grocery purchases for using their loyalty card. These interventions are only received by participants randomized to the usual care arm (rather than the entire population of shoppers), and will allow for testing whether targeting discounts and nutrition education improves the diet quality of purchases in comparison to untargeted approaches.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Nominal loyalty card discount and nutrition education