An interventional study of environmental change and messaging in Food Habits and Consumer Behavior, sponsored by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). Completed. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2017-11-13.
Sponsored by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of environmental modifications (choice architecture and a marketing campaign) in combination with weekly text messages on purchases of foods made by parents shopping in a large supermarket.
The "Make It Fresh, For Less" Supermarket Pilot Study is a supermarket-based intervention developed by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in collaboration with the nonprofit organization ChopChop Magazine (chopchopmagazine.org) and a large Northeastern supermarket chain. A promotional campaign advertising low-cost, kid-friendly meals was piloted in one store selected by the supermarket partner, with promotions rotating every 4 weeks during a 16-week intervention period. Parent shoppers were recruited (n=401) at the store and given a study loyalty card to track their transactions. At the start of the intervention, half of the participants were additionally randomized to receive weekly behavioral messages via text message or email. Supermarket purchases were assessed at baseline, during the 16-week intervention, and up to 6-weeks post-intervention.
Primary Aim 1: to examine the impact of a choice architecture intervention in combination with a promotional campaign on food purchases of parents shopping in a large supermarket. It is hypothesized that there will be an increase in selection of foods targeted by the promotional campaign when physical modifications are made.
Primary Aim 2: to examine the impact of weekly behavioral messages in combination with an environmental change intervention on food purchases of parents shopping in a large supermarket. It is hypothesized that there will be a greater increase in selection of foods targeted by the promotional campaign among participants receiving the messages compared to participants exposed to the environmental change intervention alone.
985 studies on the registry are indexed under Feeding Behavior; 178 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 401 is above the median of 77 across 700 interventional studies indexed under Feeding Behavior.
Browse Feeding Behavior studies →Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) is the lead sponsor of 154 studies on the registry; 10 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Shoppers were exposed to modifications to the supermarket environment to encourage selection of low-cost, kid-friendly meals
Behavioral: environmental change
Shoppers were exposed to modifications to the supermarket environment and weekly messages via text or email to encourage selection of low-cost, kid-friendly meals
Behavioral: environmental change · Behavioral: messaging
1. Offer kid-friendly, low-cost recipes in a prominent, high-traffic location. 2. Offer healthy default ingredients (bundled ingredients promoted with recipes). 3. Promote recipe ingredients with prominently displayed signage and images. 4. Promote recipes in multiple locations throughout the store.
Also known as: choice architecture, promotional campaign
Short, behavioral messages sent to participants via text message or email each week to promote the in-store environmental changes
Change in weekly purchases of recipe components (Selection of items bundled with each recipe) during four, 4-week promotional campaigns
Purchase of recipe ingredients
Time frame: Baseline, during intervention (4 weeks each) and up to 6 weeks post-intervention
Change in weekly purchases of other food categories (substitution of recipe ingredients for other foods)
Substitution of recipe ingredients for other foods
Time frame: Baseline, during intervention (4 weeks each) and up to 6 weeks post-intervention
Differential change in weekly purchases of recipe components by SNAP-eligibility
Stratification by SNAP-eligibility, recipe components
Time frame: Baseline, during intervention (4 weeks each) and up to 6 weeks post-intervention
Differential change in weekly purchases of other food groups (substitution) by SNAP-eligibility
Stratification by SNAP-eligibility, other food groups
Time frame: Baseline, during intervention (4 weeks each) and up to 6 weeks post-intervention
Acceptability of intervention (self-reported survey measures)
Shopper responses to survey questions asking participants to rate the acceptability of each recipe (taste, cost, difficulty, perceptions of children's preferences) on a Likert scale from 1-5.
Time frame: Up to 6 weeks post-intervention
Recall of intervention (self-reported survey measures)
Shopper responses to survey questions regarding aided and unaided recall. Unaided recall asks shoppers to choose the best description of what they saw in the store and aided recall asks shoppers whether they remember seeing various elements of the display in the store (yes, no, not sure). These measures will be combined to report the proportion of shoppers who recalled each component of the intervention either through aided or unaided means.
Time frame: Up to 6 weeks post-intervention
Adoption of intervention (self-reported survey measures)
Shopper responses to survey questions asking whether the shopper made each recipe in the display.
Time frame: Up to 6 weeks post-intervention
Reach of intervention (direct observation measures)
Observation of shopper interactions with promotional campaign (count of number of shoppers who passed the display, looked at the display, and took an item from the display).
Time frame: During intervention (4 weeks each)
Fidelity to intended intervention (direct observation measures)
Monthly random site visits to assess presence or absence of each element of the display (placards, poster, recipe cards, intended ingredients, store banners).
Time frame: During intervention (4 weeks each)
No study locations are listed for this record.
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Ran from Oct 2015 to primary completion in Jan 2017, 14 months.
Of 503 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Feeding Behavior, half reached primary completion within 14 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 31. This study's 14 months is close to that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 515 studies reached it within 14 months; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 31.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is completed, as verified in Nov 2017. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.
Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) →