Are Offline Meals Healthy Meals? A Field Experiment to Promote Healthier Eating in Families (OfflineMeals)
Health Behavior, Smartphone Addiction, Healthy Nutrition
About this trial
This is an interventional prevention trial for Health Behavior
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
- One parent who 1. lives in a household with at least one child aged between 6 and 14 years 2. eats a family meal (shared meal) with this child at least 5 days/week 3. owns an Android smartphone 4. has mobile internet on the smartphone 5. uses the smartphone on a daily basis 6. uses the smartphone at least sometimes during shared meals 5. agrees on participating in the study.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Insufficient knowledge of German of the participating family member
- Involvement of the participating family member and/or child in a dietary program to reduce weight or plan to do so for the duration of the study.
- Holidays during the intervention period
Sites / Locations
- ForsaRecruiting
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Experimental
Active Comparator
Experimental group
Control group
Installation of the study app. At the beginning of the meal, participants press a button within the App to start a time out from the smartphone at the beginning of a meal (i.e. calls and message are blocked and participants need to press an extra button in order to leave the app). The app instructs all other family members to turn off their phones and to put them away. Then, the participants are instructed to take a picture with their smartphone from the meal table. A time out from the smartphone starts, meaning that all functions of the phone are locked. The time-out is over as soon as the participant presses the "stop" button. A short questionnaire about the meal is sent via App to the participating family member when the smartphone is used again. During the whole period of the study the App tracks the smartphone behavior (i.e., frequency and duration of smartphone use and the specific applications used). Active comparator: control group
Control points in time include all parts as in the experimental group except for number 3.