EatWellNow: Formative Development of a Place-Based Behavioral “Nudge” Technology Intervention to Promote Healthier Food Purchases among Army Soldiers

Public Deposited
Analytics

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
Request Version for Screen Reader
Creator
  • McGuirt, Jared T.
    • Other Affiliation: University of North Carolina Greensboro
  • Gustafson, Alison
    • Other Affiliation: University of Kentucky
  • Ammerman, Alice S.
    • Gillings School of Global Public Health, Department of Nutrition
  • Tucker-McLaughlin, Mary
    • Other Affiliation: East Carolina University
  • Enahora, Basheerah
    • Other Affiliation: University of North Carolina Greensboro
  • Moore, Courtney
    • Other Affiliation: Womack Army Medical Center
  • Dunnagan, Danielle
    • Other Affiliation: Womack Army Medical Center
  • Prentice-Dunn, Hannah
  • Bedno, Sheryl
    • Other Affiliation: Womack Army Medical Center
Abstract
  • Approximately 17% of military service members are obese. Research involving army soldiers suggests a lack of awareness of healthy foods on post. Innovative approaches are needed to change interactions with the military food environment. Two complementary technological methods to raise awareness are geofencing (deliver banner ads with website links) and Bluetooth beacons (real-time geotargeted messages to mobile phones that enter a designated space). There is little published literature regarding the feasibility of this approach to promote healthy behaviors in retail food environments. Thus, we conducted a formative feasibility study of a military post to understand the development, interest in, and implementation of EatWellNow, a multi-layered interactive food environment approach using contextual messaging to improve food purchasing decisions within the military food environment. We measured success based on outcomes of a formative evaluation, including process, resources, management, and scientific assessment. We also report data on interest in the approach from a Fort Bragg community health assessment survey (n = 3281). Most respondents agreed that they were interested in receiving push notifications on their phone about healthy options on post (64.5%) and that receiving these messages would help them eat healthier (68.3%). EatWellNow was successfully developed through cross-sector collaboration and was well received in this military environment, suggesting feasibility in this setting. Future work should examine the impact of EatWellNow on military service food purchases and dietary behaviors.
Date of publication
Keyword
DOI
Identifier
Resource type
  • Article
Rights statement
  • In Copyright
License
  • Attribution 3.0 United States
Journal title
  • Nutrients
Journal volume
  • 14
Journal issue
  • 7
Page start
  • 1458
Language
  • English
Version
  • Publisher
ISSN
  • 2072-6643

Relations

Parents:

This work has no parents.

In Collection:

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details nutrients-14-01458.pdf 2022-04-04 Public Download