Grocery Assistance Program Study for Families

Effects of Subsidies and Prohibitions on Household Nutrition in a Food Benefit Program

An experimental trial will be conducted whereby a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)-like food benefit program will be implemented in 240 SNAP eligible households. Baseline and follow up measures will include three 24-hour dietary recalls; household food purchase receipt collection; and household food security questions. The individual level measures will be collected from the adult most responsible for food shopping and a child in the household. After baseline measures are completed households will be randomized to one of three conditions: 1) restriction (not allowed to buy sugar sweetened beverages, sweet baked goods, or candies with food benefits); 2) restriction paired with an incentive (30% financial incentive on fruits and vegetables and restriction of purchase of sugar sweetened beverages, sweet baked goods, or candy with food benefits); or 3) control (no incentive or restrictions). Households in all conditions will be given a debit card that will have funds added monthly for a five month period. The dollar amount placed on the card monthly will be similar to the amount the household would receive if enrolled in SNAP. All participants will be instructed to use the debit card for food purchases only, and they'll be told they shouldn't use the card to purchase items currently non-eligible for purchase with SNAP benefits (e.g. alcohol, food from restaurants). Those in the restriction condition will also be told they cannot use the card to buy sugar sweetened beverages, sweet baked goods, or candies. They may purchase these foods using their own money, but not the debit card. Those in the restriction plus incentive condition will receive the instructions provided to the restriction group plus they will be told that they'll receive a 30% bonus for fruits and vegetables purchased using their debit card. Analyses will determine whether the nutritional quality of the diet at follow-up differs between experimental groups.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Food Insecurity; Healthy Diet; Nutritional Quality; Food Legislation; Food Stamp Program
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Restricted; Behavioral: Restriction plus Incentive

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 646
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Minnesota
    • Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, 55454
      • University of Minnesota, School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology & Community Health

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 3 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• SNAP-eligible household
• at least one child between the ages of 3-11
• Less than or equal to 6 people in the household
• Primary food shopper
• Ability and willingness to collect and submit household food purchase receipts for 22 weeks
• Willingness to attend two study visits
• willingness to complete three dietary recalls at both baseline and follow-up
• not planning to apply for SNAP in the next 5 months
• ability to speak and understand either Spanish or English

Exclusion Criteria:

• households that are not SNAP-eligible
• no children in household between the ages of 3-11
• not primary food shopper
• 7 or more people in household
• inability to collect and submit household food purchase receipts for 22 weeks
• unwillingness to comply with study measures
• inability to speak or understand Spanish or English
• planning on applying for SNAP within the next 5 months.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control
Experimental: Restricted	Behavioral: Restricted; Certain foods and beverages are not allowed to be purchased with food benefit dollars.
Experimental: Restriction plus Incentive	Behavioral: Restriction plus Incentive; Certain foods and beverages are not allowed to be purchased with food benefit dollars; 30% of the total dollars spent toward the purchase of certain foods result are added to their food benefit dollars.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Overall Nutritional Quality as measured by the Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2015 score	Overall Nutritional Quality obtained from average intake of three dietary recalls at both baseline and follow-up.	18 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Total Energy Intake	18 weeks
Scores of 3 components (whole fruits, total vegetable, and added sugar) of the HEI-2015	18 weeks
Household food insecurity	18 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Minnesota

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 2, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 6, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): October 6, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 29, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 29, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): December 5, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 10, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 9, 2020
• Last Verified: November 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); Food restrictions/incentives; Food Stamp program; Policy change
• Other Study ID Numbers: STUDY00002037

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: De-identified data will be placed on the Open Science Framework in compliance with Laura and John Arnold Foundation (LJAF) policies.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Data will be made available upon publication of the primary outcomes manuscript and will be posted indefinitely.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ICF; ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No