Clinical Research Directory
Browse clinical research sites, groups, and studies.
A Mobile Application to Improve Procurement and Distribution of Healthful Foods & Beverages in Baltimore City
Sponsor: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Summary
Low-income urban communities have many small food stores, but poor access to healthier foods and beverages. The investigators will develop, implement and evaluate the feasibility of a Baltimore Urban food Distribution (BUD) web-based application (app) to improve access to affordable, healthier products from local producers/wholesalers in 38 urban corner stores in low-income Baltimore neighborhoods, using a randomized controlled trial design and assess its impact on store stocking and sales. The R34 will provide a developed and tested version of the BUD app, which will resolve challenges related to affordability and delivery of healthful foods and beverages to small food stores, permit development of new instruments, assess potential impacts at the consumer level, permitting power and sample size estimates for the full-scale clinical trial, and demonstrate the investigators' ability to recruit and retain large numbers of wholesalers, producers, and corner stores in low-income urban settings.
Official title: A Mobile Application to Improve Procurement and Distribution of Healthful Foods & Beverages in Low Income Urban Communities
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
21 Years - 75 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
310
Start Date
2021-10-29
Completion Date
2024-06-30
Last Updated
2026-07-17
Healthy Volunteers
Yes
Conditions
Interventions
Web-based application connecting small food store owners and suppliers of healthier foods and beverages
The primary intervention is a web-based app that connects small food store owners in low income Baltimore with suppliers of healthier foods and beverages. To reduce costs associated with small purchasing quantities by corner stores, and high delivery charges, the BUD app uses collective purchasing and shared delivery strategies. BUD will be implemented in four stages, where each stage promotes different food/beverage items and introduces new features. The app will be bundled with a small subsidy in stages 1-2 to encourage initial use, increase familiarity with the app and reduce risk. Trainings in the use of the app will take place at the beginning of each phase. BUD will use collective purchasing at stage 2 of implementation (BuddyUp!). The BuddyLift! feature will start in stage 3, enabling small store owners to deliver BuddyUp! deals to other stores for an additional discount. Participating stores and wholesalers will receive point of purchase materials to promote BUD products.
Locations (1)
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland, United States