Diet, Eating, and Lifestyle Improvement for Valued Employees and Their Relatives

NCT ID: NCT03277040

Last Updated: 2019-02-19

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 60 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2017-09-26
• Study Completion Date: 2018-12-01

Brief Summary

Food is widely understood as a cornerstone of health, however multiple barriers stand between well-intentioned, well-informed consumers and the adoption of healthier dietary practices. This mixed-methods randomized controlled trial (RCT) will measure the impact of offering a Community Sustained Agriculture (CSA) share as an employee benefit on household food environments (diets), eating behaviors, and lifestyles.

Detailed Description

Aim: We will test a strategy to increase frequency of cooking meals at home and consumption of healthful, fresh foods by providing study participants with a CSA membership.

Study design: This is a mixed method randomized controlled trial, with survey, home-food audit, and interview components.

Hypothesis: The intervention group who received a CSA membership as an employee benefit will prepare more meals at home and consume more healthful, fresh foods compared to the control group (no CSA participation).

Using both qualitative and quantitative assessments, outcomes will be measured using 3 primary measures:

1. Home food audits at baseline and at week 8 of the intervention. A random selection of participants will have home-food audits completed by members of the research team - those not randomly selected will complete the home-food audit themselves.

2. Self-administered surveys, including food frequency questionnaires, at baseline, week 8, and week 16.

3. Randomly selected participants will be asked to participate in qualitative interviews at the close of the 16-week intervention period.

Conditions

Diet Habit; Obesity; Food Habits

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Intervention (CSA membership)

Employees will gain CSA membership - they will receive bi-weekly deliveries of fresh fruits and vegetables to a central location near their place of employment.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

CSA membership

Intervention Type: OTHER

Bi-weekly fresh food delivery

Control (no CSA membership)

Usual care, usual employee benefits. Employees do not gain CSA membership.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

CSA membership

Bi-weekly fresh food delivery

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Individuals who are non-faculty employees at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Pennsylvania Health System.
• Individuals who score below the median (50th percentile) on dinners prepared at home on screening survey.

Exclusion Criteria

• Individuals who are under the age of 18.
• Individuals who are already have a CSA membership.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

University of Pennsylvania

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Carolyn Cannuscio

Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

University of Pennsylvania Health System

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Countries

United States

References

Feuerstein-Simon R, Dupuis R, Schumacher R, Cannuscio CC. A Randomized Trial to Encourage Healthy Eating Through Workplace Delivery of Fresh Food. Am J Health Promot. 2020 Mar;34(3):269-276. doi: 10.1177/0890117119890804. Epub 2019 Dec 16.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 31840522 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

827780

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id