Plain English Summary
Background and study aims
High percentages of people do not adhere to the recommendations to eat enough fruit and vegetables. The aim in this study is to apply tailored auditory and textual persuasive health communication to increase fruit and vegetable intake.
Who can participate?
Dutch adults, who own a smartphone (Android) and do not always eat two pieces of fruit and 200 grams of vegetables per day
What does the study involve?
After downloading the smartphone application in Google Play, participants can complete baseline questions about their own health. All questions and stimuli are presented in the smartphone application. Respondents will be randomly allocated to a tailored (textual or auditory) message and additional evaluation measures (intervention group) or measurements at the start and beginning of the study, and they will not have access to the general content of the smartphone application (control group). Additionally, the intervention group will have access to the general smartphone application content (consisting of recipes and additional information). They can also expect reminders during the 6 months of the study to log in again and they will be asked to answer some new questions and read or listen to new information that is added every month to the application. After 6 months, participants will receive an email reminder for the final questionnaire.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
Participants will gain an insight into their fruit and vegetable intake, and, in future, persuasive health messages might increase fruit and vegetable intake within a smartphone application. There are no known risks to participants taking part in this study.
Where is the study run from?
Netherlands: University of Groningen and the Netherlands Nutrition Centre
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
October 2013 to June 2014
Who is funding the study?
Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development
Who is the main contact?
Ms Sarah Elbert
Professor Arie Dijkstra
Trial website
Contact information
Type
Scientific
Primary contact
Ms Sarah Elbert
ORCID ID
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9722-8076
Contact details
Faculty Behavioral and Social Sciences
Department of Social Psychology
Grote Kruisstraat 2/1
Groningen
9712 TS
Netherlands
Additional identifiers
EudraCT number
ClinicalTrials.gov number
Protocol/serial number
N/A
Study information
Scientific title
Effects of a smartphone intervention targeting fruit and vegetable consumption among Dutch adults: a randomised controlled trial
Acronym
Study hypothesis
1. A tailored health intervention may be more effective than a control in which no health information is given
2. To test the possible difference in effects between the more classic textual mode of communication and the auditory mode of communication (reading versus listening)
Ethics approval
Ethical committee of the Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences, 05/09/2013, ref: 13012-N
Study design
Interventional randomised controlled study
Primary study design
Interventional
Secondary study design
Randomised controlled trial
Trial setting
Internet
Trial type
Other
Patient information sheet
Not available in web format, please use contact details to request a participant information sheet
Condition
Fruit and vegetable intake in the general population
Intervention
1. Text-based and audio-based tailored health information based on psychological factors that are known to predict fruit and vegetable intake
2. Control (no health information)
Respondents will complete baseline and post-test measures at 6-month follow-up (between-participants design).
Intervention type
Other
Phase
Drug names
Primary outcome measure
Self-reported fruit and vegetable intake at 6-month follow-up, measured with a detailed and validated food frequency questionnaire
Secondary outcome measures
After the frequency questionnaire on fruit and vegetable intake at 6-month follow-up, questions will be added to evaluate the information and smartphone application as a whole on a range of measures:
1. Personal applicability
2. Novelty
3. Credibility
4. Extent to which it is perceived as intense
5. Usefulness
6. Comprehensibility
7. Visual attractiveness
Overall trial start date
01/10/2013
Overall trial end date
15/06/2014
Reason abandoned (if study stopped)
Eligibility
Participant inclusion criteria
1. Age 16 years or older
2. Living in the Netherlands
3. Owning an Android device (smartphone or tablet, Android version 2.2 or more) with an installed version of Adobe Air (if necessary, they were automatically directed to Google Play to install it safely)
4. Not yet consuming two pieces of fruit and 200 grams of vegetables per day
Participant type
Healthy volunteer
Age group
Adult
Gender
Both
Target number of participants
300+ participants
Participant exclusion criteria
Intolerance to fruit
Recruitment start date
01/10/2013
Recruitment end date
30/11/2013
Locations
Countries of recruitment
Netherlands
Trial participating centre
Netherlands Nutrition Centre
Den Haag
2517 KL
Netherlands
Trial participating centre
University of Groningen
Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Groningen
9712 TS
Netherlands
Funders
Funder type
Research organisation
Funder name
Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development
Alternative name(s)
Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development
Funding Body Type
private sector organisation
Funding Body Subtype
Other non-profit organizations
Location
Netherlands
Results and Publications
Publication and dissemination plan
1. The results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal in the domain of health and internet research (to be selected).
2. The efficacy of the smartphone intervention will be central.
3. The application might be adapted based on the findings and disseminated among the general public at a later stage.
Intention to publish date
31/10/2015
Participant level data
Available on request
Basic results (scientific)
Publication list
2016 results in: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27287823