Developing a Support Application for Food Pantries (SAFPAS) to Improve Client Access to Healthy Foods & Enhance Emergency Preparedness

Description

Food pantries face many challenges, including recruitment and training of staff/volunteers, communications with staff/volunteers and clients, providing client choice, and emergency preparedness. The investigators will develop, implement, and evaluate the Support Application for Food Pantries (SAFPAS), a mobile application to address these concerns under normal and emergency operations, and assess its impact on 20 Baltimore food pantries, and on the healthiness of foods received by 360 food pantry clients using a randomized controlled trial design. If successful, the tested and refined app will support local food assistance programs throughout the United States.

Conditions

Improving Healthy Food Access in Food Insecurity Populations in Normal and Emergency Situations

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Study Overview

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Study Details

Study overview

Food pantries face many challenges, including recruitment and training of staff/volunteers, communications with staff/volunteers and clients, providing client choice, and emergency preparedness. The investigators will develop, implement, and evaluate the Support Application for Food Pantries (SAFPAS), a mobile application to address these concerns under normal and emergency operations, and assess its impact on 20 Baltimore food pantries, and on the healthiness of foods received by 360 food pantry clients using a randomized controlled trial design. If successful, the tested and refined app will support local food assistance programs throughout the United States.

Developing a Support Application for Food Pantries (SAFPAS) to Improve Client Access to Healthy Foods & Enhance Emergency Preparedness

Developing a Support Application for Food Pantries (SAFPAS) to Improve Client Access to Healthy Foods & Enhance Emergency Preparedness

Condition
Improving Healthy Food Access in Food Insecurity Populations in Normal and Emergency Situations
Intervention / Treatment

-

Contacts and Locations

Baltimore

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21205

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

For general information about clinical research, read Learn About Studies.

Eligibility Criteria

  • * Regular client of the food pantry (visit food pantry/order from one or more participating food pantries at least 1 time/month), for the past year, identified by food pantry personnel Adult (18 years or older)
  • * Willing and able to use a mobile app through a smart phone (or other device) for making electronic Choice (echoice) selections and engaging in other communications
  • * Anticipate moving out of Baltimore in the next 12 months (for pilot study)
  • * Pregnant (due to changes in diet, weight and body composition)
  • * Medically or behaviorally at risk as indicated by the food pantry
  • * No access to a smart phone or other web-enabled device and Wi-Fi

Ages Eligible for Study

18 Years to

Sexes Eligible for Study

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Collaborators and Investigators

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,

Joel Gittlesohn, PhD, PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Study Record Dates

2026-10-31