An interventional study of Behavioral economics-based Healthy Options At Pantries (HOAP) digital nudge intervention in Food Choice, Implementation Science and Food Insecurity, sponsored by Northwestern University. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-04.
Sponsored by Northwestern University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
This study will evaluate a digital nudge intervention, Healthy Options At Pantries (HOAP), in the online food pantries of three large charitable food organizations. The study will use a hybrid effectiveness-implementation design, meaning it will evaluate whether the intervention works and how it can best be rolled out in an online food pantry setting. Intervention effectiveness will be evaluated using an interrupted time series analysis to identify changes in how healthy foods ordered by shoppers are (primary outcome) by comparing food ordering data over time before and after HOAP is introduced. The study will also evaluate the possibility of collecting dietary and clinical outcomes in a small subgroup of online pantry shoppers over time comparing both in-person and at-home approaches.
This study will pilot and evaluate the Healthy Options At Pantries (HOAP) digital nudge intervention that was co-designed by pantry shoppers to encourage healthier food choices in online food pantries. We will evaluate the preliminary effectiveness of HOAP using an interrupted time series (ITS) to determine if HOAP implementation is associated with healthier online pantry orders by shoppers across three community organizations who operate online food pantries. The ITS analysis will compare 6 months of pre-intervention data to 6 months of during-intervention data to assess changes in food selection. The primary outcome is the healthfulness of items ordered by shoppers. In addition, we will qualitatively identify implementation factors that influence intervention success, including facilitators and barriers. We will also assess the feasibility and acceptability of longitudinally collecting diet quality, blood pressure, body composition, and weight data in 30 pantry shoppers comparing in-person and remote approaches to data collection over a 6- to 12-month period. Feasibility outcomes will include data completeness and acceptability of data collection procedures.
657 studies on the registry are indexed under Body Weight; 76 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 300 is above the median of 71 across 500 interventional studies indexed under Body Weight.
Browse Body Weight studies →Northwestern University is the lead sponsor of 1,423 studies on the registry; 198 are open to participants now.
Of its 105 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 78 (74%) have results posted.
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Eligibility Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
Online pantry shoppers will receive the behavioral digital nudge intervention informed by the Healthy Eating Research guidelines. Nudges include: 1) traffic light labeling of foods as green (choose often), yellow (choose sometimes), or orange (choose rarely) based on levels of saturated fat, sodium, and added sugar, displayed using colored dots and borders; 2) traffic light filters for food items; 3) choice architecture to display healthier items first; 4) a nutrition summary bar to display the number and proportion of items in cart by traffic light color; and 5) opt-out healthy default nudges styled as Healthy Bonus Items. A subgroup of adult shoppers will participate in a feasibility study comparing in-person to remote collection of dietary and clinical outcomes. Subgroup participants will complete ASA24 diet recalls and provide blood pressure, weight, and body composition measurements.
Behavioral: Behavioral economics-based Healthy Options At Pantries (HOAP) digital nudge intervention
Intervention will include behavioral digital nudges over a 6-month period to promote healthier food selection among online food pantry shoppers.
Change in Healthfulness of Shopper Food Selection
The primary outcome is change in the healthfulness of shopper food selection over time, measured using the Charitable Food Network Index (CFNI). At each time point, food orders will be categorized into proportions of green, yellow, and orange items based on the Healthy Eating Research (HER) guidelines. These proportions will be combined into a composite CFNI score. CFNI scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating healthier overall food selections.
Time frame: 6 months pre-intervention and 6 months post-intervention
Diet quality
Diet quality will be measured through up to two 24-hour dietary recalls using the Automated Self-Administered 24-hour Dietary Assessment Tool (ASA24).
Time frame: 3-6 months pre-intervention and 3-6 months post-intervention
Blood Pressure
Blood pressure will be measured using an automated blood pressure cuff. Blood pressure will be systolic and diastolic measures in mmHg. At each collection point, three blood pressure measurements will be obtained, and the average of the second and third measurements will be used for analysis.
Time frame: 3-6 months pre-intervention and 3-6 months post-intervention
Body Weight
Body weight will be measured in pounds using a medical-grade scale.
Time frame: 3-6 months pre-intervention and 3-6 months post-intervention
Body Composition
Body composition measures will include body fat percentage (range: 5-60%), visceral fat level (range: 1-30, lower values indicate lower visceral fat), and skeletal muscle percentage (range: 5-50%).
Time frame: 3-6 months pre-intervention and 3-6 months post-intervention
Plan to share: Yes — De-identified individual participant data that underlie the results of this study will be shared. De-identified study data will be made available to the research community through the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), an open-access data repository.
Time frame: Shared data will be made available as soon as possible, and no later than the time of publication or the end of the funding period. Data will be available for at least 7 years thereafter.
Access criteria: All de-identified study data will be made available through ICPSR as public-use data without restriction.
Started Aug 2026 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Jan 2028, 17 months after the start.
Of 206 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Body Weight, half reached primary completion within 18 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 7 and three quarters within 40. This study's planned 17 months is close to that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 226 studies reached it within 18 months; a quarter within 7 and three quarters within 38.
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