FOODLIT-Trial: Digital Behaviour Change Intervention to Improve Food Literacy Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

NCT ID: NCT04806074

Last Updated: 2021-10-19

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

215 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2020-08-14

Study Completion Date

2021-09-06

Brief Summary

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Given that healthy food-related habits are protective of both malnutrition and multiple noncommunicable diseases (including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer), and acknowledging that poor diets constitute a greater risk to mortality, it is essential to improve individuals' food-related knowledge, skills, and behaviours. Furthermore, the current public health context caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the need for an adequate diet as a protective factor for one's global health.

In the ambit of the FOODLIT-PRO: Food Literacy Project (ref. SFRH/BD/128528/2017), a digital intervention to promote food literacy - that is, food-related knowledge, competencies, and behaviours - encompassing behavioural change strategies and psychological determinants (such as intention, planning, and self-efficacy) was developed.

With the online deliver of personalised evidence-based materials concerning food literacy, adult participants receive weekly challenges that promote their food-related knowledge (e.g., recognising food's origin and seasonality), competencies (e.g., as cooking and planning skills), and behaviours (e.g., tracking food intake, interpret nutritional labels). Matched with tailored behavioural change strategies (experimental group), both food literacy content and psychological aspects that relate to health behaviour are assessed weekly in order to evaluate the intervention's efficacy. Follow-ups at 3-, 6- and 9-months post intervention will be assessed.

Detailed Description

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Conditions

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Food Literacy Food Habits Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms Eating Behavior

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

OTHER

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Participants

Study Groups

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Single-moment, unspecified delivery of food literacy information

Non-specific food-related national and international guidelines were made digitally available in a website exclusively accessible to all the participants from the comparison group.

Group Type PLACEBO_COMPARATOR

Comparison Group

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Food-related guidelines were delivered in a single moment in the first week of the intervention, on their original format and referring their original source (national's and international's entities websites). There was not a thematic for each specific week. No weekly introduction videos or WhatsApp groups existed in this condition. Food literacy domains and HAPA determinants were assessed weekly, post-intervention, and in follow-up moments 3-, 6- and 9-months after the intervention.

Personalised, weekly delivery of food literacy information matched with behaviour strategies

Food-related tips - including theoretical knowledge, practical competencies, and behaviours - from national and international guidelines were specifically matched with Behaviour Change Techniques from the BCT Taxonomy v1. These personalised material were made digitally available in a website exclusively accessible to all the participants from the experimental group. Presenting each week's topic, a small video featuring the lead psychologist was also made available each week.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Experimental Group

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Evidence-based food-related national and international guidelines were (i) specifically arranged considering the Food Literacy Wheel (Rosas et al., 2021) and personalised materials contained these guidelines were designed, (ii) matched with tailored behaviour change techniques (BCT Taxonomy v1, by Michie et al., XXXX) that indicated how to develop/implement each competence/behaviour, and (iii) digitally delivered weekly. Psychological variables of the Health Action Process Approach model (HAPA; Schwarzer, 2008) were integrated in the intervention, to study potential food literacy's psychological determinants. Weekly introduction videos featuring the lead psychologist were made available. Participants' groups in WhatsApp were built to incentive experience-sharing. Food literacy domains and HAPA determinants were assessed weekly, post-intervention, and in follow-up moments 3-, 6- and 9-months after the intervention.

Interventions

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Experimental Group

Evidence-based food-related national and international guidelines were (i) specifically arranged considering the Food Literacy Wheel (Rosas et al., 2021) and personalised materials contained these guidelines were designed, (ii) matched with tailored behaviour change techniques (BCT Taxonomy v1, by Michie et al., XXXX) that indicated how to develop/implement each competence/behaviour, and (iii) digitally delivered weekly. Psychological variables of the Health Action Process Approach model (HAPA; Schwarzer, 2008) were integrated in the intervention, to study potential food literacy's psychological determinants. Weekly introduction videos featuring the lead psychologist were made available. Participants' groups in WhatsApp were built to incentive experience-sharing. Food literacy domains and HAPA determinants were assessed weekly, post-intervention, and in follow-up moments 3-, 6- and 9-months after the intervention.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Comparison Group

Food-related guidelines were delivered in a single moment in the first week of the intervention, on their original format and referring their original source (national's and international's entities websites). There was not a thematic for each specific week. No weekly introduction videos or WhatsApp groups existed in this condition. Food literacy domains and HAPA determinants were assessed weekly, post-intervention, and in follow-up moments 3-, 6- and 9-months after the intervention.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Having a minimum of digital literacy to access, visualise and download online material related to the intervention;
* Having the availability to participate in the intervention (11 weeks) and posterior follow-up moments.
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

ISPA - Instituto Universitario de Ciencias Psicologicas, Sociais e da Vida

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Raquel Rosas

Principal Investigator

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Isabel Leal, Ph.D.

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

ISPA - Instituto Universitário

Locations

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ISPA - Instituto Universitário

Lisbon, , Portugal

Site Status

Countries

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Portugal

References

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Schwarzer, R. (2008) Modeling health behavior change: how to predict and modify the adoption and maintenance of health behaviors, Applied Psychology: An International Review, 57, 1-29.

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Godinho CA, Alvarez MJ, Lima ML, Schwarzer R. Will is not enough: coping planning and action control as mediators in the prediction of fruit and vegetable intake. Br J Health Psychol. 2014 Nov;19(4):856-70. doi: 10.1111/bjhp.12084. Epub 2013 Dec 6.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 24308823 (View on PubMed)

Rosas R, Pimenta F, Leal I, Schwarzer R. FOODLIT-PRO: conceptual and empirical development of the food literacy wheel. Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2021 Feb;72(1):99-111. doi: 10.1080/09637486.2020.1762547. Epub 2020 May 13.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 32397776 (View on PubMed)

Rosas R, Pimenta F, Leal I, Schwarzer R. FOODLIT-PRO: Food Literacy Domains, Influential Factors and Determinants-A Qualitative Study. Nutrients. 2019 Dec 27;12(1):88. doi: 10.3390/nu12010088.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 31892245 (View on PubMed)

Michie S, Richardson M, Johnston M, Abraham C, Francis J, Hardeman W, Eccles MP, Cane J, Wood CE. The behavior change technique taxonomy (v1) of 93 hierarchically clustered techniques: building an international consensus for the reporting of behavior change interventions. Ann Behav Med. 2013 Aug;46(1):81-95. doi: 10.1007/s12160-013-9486-6.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 23512568 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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SFRH/BD/128528/2017

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id