Online planning tool for reducing unhealthy snacking

INTERVENTION: The intervention aims to: (1) investigate the impact of an online planning tool on unhealthy snacking behaviour at one‐month follow‐up; (2) compare this effect amongst higher and lower health literacy groups, and; (3) investigate possible mediating factors or predictors of the effectiveness of the intervention, and how this relates to health literacy. Participants will be randomly allocated to one of 3 conditions*: • Volitional help sheet • Detailed plan • Snacking tips sheet All will complete a 20min online survey (Survey 1). This will include demographic questions and measures relating to health literacy and health behaviour. Depending on which condition participants have been assigned to, some will design their own healthy snacking plan, while others receive either a volitional help sheet, or a sheet with snacking tips. One‐week after Survey 1 is completed, participants are emailed a reminder of either their plan, help sheet, or tip sheet. One‐month after Survey 1 is completed, participants complete Survey 2 (10mins). The study will be conducted online via two Qualtrics surveys. Both surveys will be designed by Ms Julie Ayre, a PhD candidate from the Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney. *The three conditions: Volitional help sheet: This consists of 4 steps that guide the user through the process of developing an appropriate plan. • Step1: Sometimes we snack because we are hungry, but there are lots of other reasons too. Think about your snacks in the last week. Below is a list of ‘snack moments.’ These are times when people tend to choose unhealthy snacks or eat too much. Choose 3 snack moments from the list that happened to you the most often in the last week. [List of snack moments]. • Step 2: Below are your top 3 snack moments. Some snack moments will be more important than others. Choose the 1 that you would be happiest to change. [User chooses from 3 previously selected snack moments] • Step 3: Great! Your most important snack moment was snacking because you are bored. • The last step is to come up with a plan! Choose the solution that you think will work best for you. Drag it into the space on the right. [List of solutions] • Step 4: Imagine how your plan might feel.[examples of scenarios when this might happen]. The final step is to make sure the plan is realistic. How hard do you think it will be to do this plan for the next month [Slider from very easy to very hard. If the user selects a number 7 they will be prompted to revise the plan] Detailed plan: Text: We want you to plan how you will change your unhealthy snacking behaviour each day because forming plans has been shown to improve snacking habits. You are free to choose how you do this but we want you to formulate your plans in as much detail as possible. Please pay attention to the situations in which you will implement (carry out) these plans. Focus on situations when you are not hungry but find yourself snacking. Snacking tips sheet: This is a modified version of the NDSS Healthy snacking tips sheet with references to diabetes, blood glucose and carbohydrate removed (see https://static.diabetesaustralia.com.au/s/fileassets/diabetes‐australia/201fcd3d‐3b7c‐4f5f‐a81a‐46a200b1fa84.pdf ). CONDITION: Low health literacy Unhealthy snacking PRIMARY OUTCOME: Maintenance self‐efficacy (3 items, 4‐point Likert scale anchored to not at all true/exactly true). Unhealthy snacking scores (based on self‐reported diet during previous week). SECONDARY OUTCOME: Action Control, using 3‐item self report 7‐point Likert scale based on those used in Armitage 2015 (both references below are use the same approach): ; ‐ Armitage, C. J. (2015). Randomized test of a brief psychological intervention to reduce and prevent emotional eating in a community sample. Journal of Public Health, 37(3), 438‐444. ; ‐ Armitage, C. J. (2015). Field experiment of a very brief worksite intervention to improve nutrition among health care workers. Journal of behavioral medicine, 38(4), 599‐608. Self‐regulatory effort, a 5 item 7‐point Likert scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree). INCLUSION CRITERIA: Currently living in Australia. 50% of sample must not have a tertiary education (in order to connect with lower health literacy cohort).