Impact of Online Ordering on Low-Income Adults' Food Security in Online Food Pantry Settings

The primary objectives of this study are to determine whether the transition to online ordering at a choice-based food pantry network influences food security status among low-income adults and determining whether there are differences in impact by age group.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Food Security
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Transition to Online Ordering

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 204
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • New York, New York, United States, 10016
      • NYU Langone Health

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Study Population

Food pantry clients at food pantry sites within the Met Council Kosher Food Pantry Network, a network that contains 65 pantry partners and over 200 community partners in NYC.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• aged 18 years or older
• have visited a food pantry that either is or is not scheduled to transition to online ordering at least once
• have capacity and willingness to provide consent
• speaks English

Exclusion Criteria:

• aged less than 18 years
• have not visited a food pantry that either is or is not scheduled to transition to online ordering at least once
• does not speak English

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Food Pantry Scheduled to Transition to Online Ordering; Low-income adults who have visited the food pantry that is scheduled to transition to online ordering at least once. Participants will complete an in-person survey and a research assistant will record the food items they received in the relevant visit to the pantry. After the transition to online ordering at the intervention food pantry, participants will again complete the survey. Food selections for participants in the this arm will be accessible through the online ordering platform.	Behavioral: Transition to Online Ordering; The intervention food pantry will transition to online ordering at least once.
No Intervention: Food Pantry NOT Scheduled to Transition to Online Ordering; Low-income adults who have visited the food pantry that is NOT scheduled to transition to online ordering at least once. Participants will complete an in-person survey and a research assistant will record the food items they received in the relevant visit to the pantry. After the transition to online ordering at the intervention food pantry, participants will again complete the survey. Participants in this arm will record their food selections and send them to the study team.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module: Six-Item Short Form Score	6-item assessment of food security. The total score ranges from 0-6, where: 5-6 = very low food security; 2-4 = low food security; and 0-1 = high or marginal food security.	Baseline
U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module: Six-Item Short Form Score	6-item assessment of food security. The total score ranges from 0-6, where: 5-6 = very low food security; 2-4 = low food security; and 0-1 = high or marginal food security.	Month 8

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Time to Obtain Food From Food Pantry Per Visit	Expressed in minutes.	Baseline
Time to Obtain Food From Food Pantry Per Visit	Expressed in minutes.	Month 8
Composite Weekly Fruit & Vegetable Intake Score	The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System's 2017 six-item fruit and vegetable screener, where values correspond to the number of times a participant consumed fruits and vegetables per week as a composite score. The total score ranges from 0 to infinity.	Baseline
Composite Weekly Fruit & Vegetable Intake Score	The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System's 2017 six-item fruit and vegetable screener, where values correspond to the number of times a participant consumed fruits and vegetables per week as a composite score. The total score ranges from 0 to infinity.	Month 8
Center for Nutrition & Health Impact's Household Nutrition Security Survey Module: Four-Item Short Form Score	4-item assessment of nutrition security. The four items within the measure are scored from 0 (if the participant selects "Always") to 4 (if the participant selects "Never"). The total score is the average of the four item scores and ranges from 0-4; higher scores indicate greater nutrition security, and scores of 2 or below indicate "low" levels of nutrition security.	Baseline
Center for Nutrition & Health Impact's Household Nutrition Security Survey Module: Four-Item Short Form Score	4-item assessment of nutrition security. The four items within the measure are scored from 0 (if the participant selects "Always") to 4 (if the participant selects "Never"). The total score is the average of the four item scores and ranges from 0-4; higher scores indicate greater nutrition security, and scores of 2 or below indicate "low" levels of nutrition security.	Month 8

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: NYU Langone Health
• Collaborators: National Institute on Aging (NIA)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Pasquale Rummo, NYU Langone Health

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 21, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 15, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): December 15, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 21, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 21, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): March 3, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 20, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 29, 2024
• Last Verified: July 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 22-01523

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: The de-identified participant data from the final research dataset used in the published manuscript will be shared upon reasonable request beginning 9 months and ending 36 months following article publication or as required by a condition of awards and agreements supporting the research. After 36 months the data will be available in NYU Langone's data warehouse but without investigator support other than deposited metadata. The protocol and statistical analysis plan will be made available on Clinicaltrials.gov only as required by federal regulation or as a condition of awards and agreements supporting the research. The informed consent form, clinical study report, and analytic code will also be shared.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Beginning 9 months and ending 36 months following article publication or as required by a condition of awards and agreements supporting the research.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: The investigator who proposed to use the data will be granted access upon reasonable request. Proposals may be submitted up to 36 months following article publication. After 36 months the data will be available in NYU Langone's data warehouse but without investigator support other than deposited metadata.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ICF; ANALYTIC_CODE; CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

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