Evaluation of a 5-a-day Fruit and Vegetable Mobile Phone Application

This is a randomized controlled trial to assess the impact of a novel fruit and vegetable mobile phone application on fruit and vegetable intakes, knowledge and attitudes.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Nutritional Status; Nutrition Assessment
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: 5-a-day fruit and vegetable mobile phone application

Detailed Description

The 5-a-day fruit and vegetable (FV) message from the WHO recommends consumption of five 80g portions of different FV per day for health reasons. Recent research suggests that the details of the message are poorly understood by the population as a whole, by low consumers of FV and by those in demographic groups of traditional low FV consumption, and that this poor knowledge impacts on implementation of the message to result in low FV intakes. To aid implementation of the recommendations, investigators have developed a 5-a-day FV mobile phone application (app) prototype. The basic prototype app will provide information on the 5-a-day message, allow users to input consumption, and provides consumers with accurate knowledge of their adherence to the recommendations. This study will investigate the use and impact of the prototype app on FV intakes over a two or four week period. For significant impacts on health, sustained user engagement and use will be required. Up to 100 participants will be randomised to either receive or not receive the app, and will be asked to use the app for the following two or four weeks. FV intake will be assessed at baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks. Measures of app use will also be taken at these time points. Measures of FV knowledge will also be measured at these time points. Measures of FV attitudes were initially planned but not undertaken to reduce demand characteristics for participants. The investigators anticipate that changes in intakes will be mediated by changes in knowledge and attitudes.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 94
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• able to provide informed consent
• speaks English, owns an android mobile telephone
• able and willing to use phone and complete all measures

Exclusion Criteria:

• none

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention for two weeks; Receipt of the mobile phone application for two weeks	Behavioral: 5-a-day fruit and vegetable mobile phone application; 5-a-day fruit and vegetable mobile phone application
No Intervention: Control for two weeks; Usual habitual activity - no receipt of mobile phone application for two weeks
Experimental: Intervention for four weeks; Receipt of the mobile phone application for four weeks	Behavioral: 5-a-day fruit and vegetable mobile phone application; 5-a-day fruit and vegetable mobile phone application
No Intervention: Control for four weeks; Usual habitual activity - no receipt of mobile phone application for two weeks

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Fruit and Vegetable Intakes (Self-report, Questionnaire Assessment)	Self-report, questionnaire assessment	Intervention end

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Fruit and Vegetable Knowledge (Questionnaire Assessment)	FV knowledge will be assessed by the FV knowledge questionnaire published in Appleton et al. J Hum Nutr Diet, 2018;31:121-130. The questionnaire assessed four aspects of FV knowledge in relation to the UK 5-a-day recommendations. The portion sizes subscale is provided, where positive scores are given for correct responses, and negative scores for incorrect responses. Min. max scores are -27, 27. Higher scores show greater knowledge.	Intervention end
App Usage	Number of days on which users interacted with the app.	Intervention end

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Bournemouth University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Appleton KM, Passmore D, Burn I, Pidgeon H, Nation P, Boobyer C, Jiang N. An Interactive Mobile Phone App (SMART 5-A-DAY) for Increasing Knowledge of and Adherence to Fruit and Vegetable Recommendations: Development and Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2019 Nov 20;7(11):e14380. doi: 10.2196/14380.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 30, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): December 30, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 13, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 19, 2016
• First Posted (Estimate): May 20, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 8, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 7, 2019
• Last Verified: October 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: knowledge; food intake; fruit and vegetables
• Other Study ID Numbers: REC10186

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: Yes
• IPD Plan Description: Data will be available from the PI on request
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Following publication of findings in a peer-reviewed journal article.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Reasonable request of the PI.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No