Stores Healthy Options Project in Remote Indigenous Communities (SHOP@RIC): a protocol of a randomised trial promoting healthy food and beverage purchases through price discounts and in-store nutrition education

Abstract

BackgroundIndigenous Australians suffer a disproportionate burden of preventable chronic disease compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts – much of it diet-related. Increasing fruit and vegetable intakes and reducing sugar-sweetened soft-drink consumption can reduce the risk of preventable chronic disease. There is evidence from some general population studies that subsidising healthier foods can modify dietary behaviour. There is little such evidence relating specifically to socio-economically disadvantaged populations, even though dietary behaviour in such populations is arguably more likely to be susceptible to such interventions.This study aims to assess the impact and cost-effectiveness of a price discount intervention with or without an in-store nutrition education intervention on purchases of fruit, vegetables, water and diet soft-drinks among remote Indigenous communities.Methods/DesignWe will utilise a randomised multiple baseline (stepped wedge) design involving 20 communities in remote Indigenous Australia. The study will be conducted in partnership with two store associations and twenty Indigenous store boards. Communities will be randomised to either i) a 20% price discount on fruit, vegetables, water and diet soft-drinks; or ii) a combined price discount and in-store nutrition education strategy. These interventions will be initiated, at one of five possible time-points, spaced two-months apart. Weekly point-of-sale data will be collected from each community store before, during, and for six months after the six-month intervention period to measure impact on purchasing of discounted food and drinks. Data on physical, social and economic factors influencing weekly store sales will be collected in order to identify important covariates. Intervention fidelity and mediators of behaviour change will also be assessed.DiscussionThis study will provide original evidence on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of price discounts with or without an in-store nutrition education intervention on food and drink purchasing among a socio-economically disadvantaged population in a real-life setting.Trial registrationAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12613000694718

Anaemia Health Literacy of Community Members and Health Practitioners Knowledge of Best Practice Guidelines in a Remote Australian Aboriginal Community

“…With the increasing availability and affordability of healthy food options in local community stores a randomized controlled trial is currently being implemented to determine if a reduction in healthy food prices influences dietary behaviour changes. [27] Health practitioners' knowledge of follow-up procedures varied ranging from fair to excellent. The introduction of electronic health records over the last 10 years has greatly improved the generation of recall lists to follow-up participants that have been flagged for review.…”

Death by Diet: The Role of Food Pricing Interventions as a Public Policy Response and Health Advocacy Opportunity

“…[43][44][45][46][47] Nevertheless, they address some important research gaps regarding consumer behaviour. Elbel et al 48 tested the potential of 5 different taxation (at 30%) and labeling conditions among a high-need population to induce consumers to purchase healthier foods and beverages.…”

Exploring sales data during a healthy corner store intervention in Toronto: the Food Retail Environments Shaping Health (FRESH) project

“…directly collected checkout scanner data, commercially available data sets and grocery receipts) have been used to monitor the effectiveness of interventions in a variety of types of retail food stores, [9][10][11][12] including a number of recent small-store studies. [13][14][15][16][17] Together, these studies suggest that sales data can actually be used in the design of retail food interventions. For example, Foster and colleagues 9 found that low-cost strategies focussed on improving product availability and placement enhanced sales of some foods and beverage categories (milk, water, frozen meals) but not others (regular soda, diet soda, cereal).…”