Completed

A Randomized Trial of Web-based Behavioral Economic Interventions to Promote Healthy Food Choices Among Food Pantry Clients

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What is being tested

Behavioral economic intervention of online purchasing at a food pantry

Behavioral
Who is being recruted

Behavior

+ Feeding Behavior

+ Food Preferences

Over 18 Years
+12 Eligibility Criteria
See all eligibility criteria
How is the trial designed

Prevention Study

Interventional
Study Start: July 2019
See protocol details

Summary

Principal SponsorAbramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine
Last updated: January 28, 2026
Sourced from a government-validated database.Claim as a partner

Study start date: July 5, 2019

Actual date on which the first participant was enrolled.

The primary objective of this proposal is to evaluate the influence of a web-based behavioral economic intervention compared to a control group on the following outcomes among food pantry clients: 1) Nutritional quality of food chosen at the pantry using food transaction data; 2) Fruit and vegetable intake measured by biomarkers and food frequency questionnaires; 3) Objectively measured biomarkers of health. The web-based behavioral economic intervention will include the following modifications to the online shopping platform: 1) Healthy food shopping cart defaults, 2) healthy placement choice architecture, 3) traffic light nutrition labels, 4) social norms messaging, and 5) healthy swaps. Food transaction data will be collected from the online system at baseline and then continuously for the remaining 3 months of the study (participants typically shop monthly). Surveys and objective biomarkers will be collected at baseline and three-months.

Official TitleA Randomized Trial of Web-based Behavioral Economic Interventions to Promote Healthy Food Choices Among Food Pantry Clients
NCT04011384
Principal SponsorAbramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine
Last updated: January 28, 2026
Sourced from a government-validated database.Claim as a partner

Protocol

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.
Design Details

286 patients to be enrolled

Total number of participants that the clinical trial aims to recruit.

Prevention Study

Prevention studies aim to stop a disease from developing. They often involve people at risk and test things like vaccines, lifestyle changes, or preventive medications.

Eligibility

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria: person's general health condition or prior treatments.
Conditions
Criteria

Any sex

Biological sex of participants that are eligible to enroll.

Over 18 Years

Range of ages for which participants are eligible to join.

Healthy volunteers allowed

If individuals who are healthy and do not have the condition being studied can participate.

Conditions

Pathology

BehaviorFeeding BehaviorFood Preferences

Criteria

6 inclusion criteria required to participate
≥18 years old
primary grocery shopper for the family
a regular in-person client at the food pantry (i.e., shops at pantry ≥ 1 per month)
able to use the web-based touchscreen ordering system
Show More Criteria
6 exclusion criteria prevent from participating
18 years old
not the primary grocery shopper for the family
not a regular client at the food pantry (i.e., shops at pantry < 1 per month)
not able to use the web-based touchscreen ordering system
Show More Criteria

Study Plan

Find out more about all the medication administered in this study, their detailed description and what they involve.
Treatment Groups
Study Objectives

One single intervention group is designated in this study

This study does not include a placebo group 

Treatment Groups

Group I

Experimental
Participants in this arm will be exposed to the web-based ordering system with multiple behavioral economic interventions applied, including healthy food shopping cart defaults, healthy placement choice architecture, traffic light nutrition labels, social norms messaging, and healthy swaps.

Study Objectives

Primary Objectives

Secondary Objectives

Study Centers

These are the hospitals, clinics, or research facilities where the trial is being conducted. You can find the location closest to you and its status.

This study has 1 location

Suspended

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, United StatesOpen University of Pennsylvania in Google Maps
CompletedOne Study Center
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