Using Online Food Retail "Nudges" to Promote Healthier Beverage Intake Among Low-Income Children

NCT ID: NCT06222541

Last Updated: 2024-01-24

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 2241 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2023-03-07
• Study Completion Date: 2023-04-10

Brief Summary

The specific aims of this proposal are to 1) develop online food retail nudges to discourage sugary drink purchases and promote healthier substitutes; 2) examine the impact of online store nudges on purchases of sugary drinks in an online randomized controlled experiment with low-income parents, including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)-participating parents, of children age 1-5 years; and 3) disseminate findings to retailers, including those participating in the SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot.

Conditions

Obesity

Study Design

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

Study Groups

Standard Web-Based Supermarket

Participants will be asked to simulate one grocery shopping trip in a web-based supermarket and to select three unique beverages for their household that their child would drink.

Participants randomized to the standard web-based supermarket will not receive any nudges related to health.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

"Nudge" Web-Based Supermarket

Participants will be asked to simulate one grocery shopping trip in a web-based supermarket and to select three unique beverages for their household that their child would drink.

Participants randomized to the "nudge" web-based supermarket will view beverages in descending order of healthfulness (i.e., the healthiest beverages will appear at the top of the screen), view a store landing page promoting the healthiest beverages with a health message, and be offered healthier swaps for sugary drinks at point-of-selection (i.e., immediately after selecting an item to be added to their shopping cart).

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

"Nudges" in Web-Based Supermarket

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

While shopping in the web-based supermarket, participants assigned to the "nudge" arm will see retail nudges to discourage sugary drink purchases and promote healthier substitutes.

Interventions

"Nudges" in Web-Based Supermarket

While shopping in the web-based supermarket, participants assigned to the "nudge" arm will see retail nudges to discourage sugary drink purchases and promote healthier substitutes.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• parent (or caregiver) of children ages 1-5 years;
• the ability to read and write in English;
• aged 18 years or older;
• household income at or below 185% of the federal poverty level;
• previously purchased fruit drinks for their children;
• have ever shopped for groceries online in the last 12 months,
• live in the US, and
• have access to a personal computer, laptop, or tablet.

Exclusion Criteria

• not parent (or caregiver) of children ages 1-5 years;
• aged <18 years or >99 years;
• lack the ability to read and speak English;
• household income above 185% the federal poverty level;
• have never purchased fruit drinks for their children;
• have never shopped for groceries online in the last 12 months;
• do not live in the US, and;

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 99 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

NYU Langone Health

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Pasquale Rummo

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

NYU Langone Health

Locations

NYU Langone Health

New York, New York, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

21-01038

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id