Supporting University Students Transition Towards Sustainable and Healthy Dietary Behaviours: A Living Lab Approach.

Overview

The aim of this study is to test the efficacy, feasibility, and acceptability of the UCD PLAN'EAT Living Lab in promoting sustainable and healthy dietary behaviours among university students. This study will compare within participant changes in diet-related pre-specified outcomes (detailed below) at Living Lab baseline and endpoint and examine differences across participant engagement levels (e.g., low engagement versus high engagement) in Living Lab studies and events/ activities.

The University College Dublin (UCD) Living Lab (LL) is a series of small studies designed to develop, implement, and evaluate strategies and interventions to support university students' transition towards a sustainable and healthy diet. The LL will use a participant-centred process involving established LL methodology, with stakeholders and students actively feeding into the study design. The baseline and endpoint data collection measures of the UCD PLAN'EAT LL are described in detail below, followed by an outline of a series of planned studies. The final design and outcome(s) of each will evolve as the LL progresses. Two groups will be recruited to the UCD PLAN'EAT LL: a) UCD student participants, and b) stakeholder participants, on or connected to UCD Belfield Campus. Student and Stakeholder involvement in the LL is detailed separately below. 1. Student participants The LL study will recruit up to n=500 healthy students (aged 18-30 years) attending UCD Belfield Campus, to join the UCD PLAN'EAT LL Citizen panel. Upon successful screening and completion of informed consent, participants will be invited to join the UCD PLAN'EAT LL Citizen Panel, and then complete an initial baseline data collection, as described below. Following completion of baseline data collection measures, participants within the UCD PLAN'EAT LL Citizen Panel will subsequently be invited to participate in a series of studies (Study 1 and Study 2 detailed below), which will each form a separate registration. Students will also be invited to attend sustainable and healthy diet-related events/ activities. Following baseline data collection, subsequent participation in the LL series of studies (Study 1 and Study 2) and events/ activities is optional for all participants recruited to the UCD PLAN'EAT LL Citizen Panel. PLAN'EAT LL Citizen Panel Data Collection: LL Baseline Following informed consent, all participants recruited to the UCD PLAN'EAT LL Citizen Panel will be asked to complete a demographic, health, and lifestyle questionnaire, a diet-related questionnaire, and dietary assessment. The diet-related questionnaire will examine dietary attitudes and behaviours, including barriers and enablers to fruit and vegetables, legumes, meat, and high fat, salt, and sugar (HFSS) food consumption, nutrition knowledge, sustainable food literacy, self-efficacy, self-regulation, food neophobia, stage of change, and the self-report behavioural automaticity index. The dietary assessment will include: up to 3 online 24-hour dietary recalls (aim: 2 non-consecutive weekdays and 1 weekend day) via the web-based dietary recall tool, Foodbook24. All data will be collected using a secure online data collection platform. PLAN'EAT LL Citizen Panel Data Collection: LL Endpoint At the end of the overall LL study or when participants are completing their course of study at UCD, all participating students recruited to the PLAN'EAT LL Citizen Panel (detailed above) will be asked to complete a diet-related questionnaire and dietary assessment. The diet-related questionnaire will examine self-efficacy and the self-report behavioural automaticity index. The dietary assessment will include: up to 3 online 24-hour dietary recalls (aim: 2 non-consecutive weekdays and 1 weekend day) via the web-based dietary recall tool, Foodbook24. All data will be collected using a secure online data collection platform. UCD PLAN'EAT LL Citizen Panel Process Evaluation: At the end of the overarching LL study, UCD student participants will be invited to complete a study evaluation questionnaire. In addition, a subsample of UCD student participants will also be invited to participate in focus groups or one-to-one interviews at the end of the LL study. The evaluation questionnaire and focus groups/ interviews will explore topics encompassing, for example, their study experience, study acceptability, factors affecting participation rates (e.g., barriers and enablers), study engagement, perceived study effectiveness (e.g., evaluation on whether participants felt taking part in the Living Lab helped them to overcome the main barriers identified by the Living Lab student cohort to increasing fruit and vegetable intake, increasing legume intake, and reducing meat, and high fat, salt, and sugar (HFSS) food intake throughout the Living Lab study), and suggestions for improvement. The questionnaire and interviews will be guided by the Acceptability, Practicality, Effectiveness, Affordability, Spill-over effects, and Equity (APEASE) criteria. However, in line with the LL methodology, the evaluation details will be more fully articulated and confirmed as the LL study progresses. PLAN'EAT LL Citizen Panel Study 1: Behaviour-focused personalised nutrition intervention to promote sustainable and healthy diets in university students: a feasibility pilot study. The aim of Study 1 is to test the efficacy, feasibility, and acceptability of a novel, behaviour-focused personalised nutrition intervention compared to a control personalised nutrition intervention for improving adherence to sustainable and healthy diets in university students. This study has formed a separate registration (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT06631469). PLAN'EAT LL Citizen Panel Study 2: A personalised nutrition intervention with tailored behavioural support to promote sustainable and healthy diets in university students. The aim of Study 2 is to test the efficacy of a novel personalised nutrition intervention with tailored behavioural support compared to a control personalised nutrition intervention (without tailored behavioural support) for improving adherence to sustainable and healthy diets in university students. Study 2 will incorporate key insights and learnings from Study 1 (including the process evaluation from Study 1). This study will form a separate registration. 2. Stakeholder participants This UCD PLAN'EAT LL study will recruit n=20 stakeholders. Upon successful completion of informed consent, stakeholders will be regularly informally consulted at several time points throughout the duration of the LL study regarding their feedback and input on LL studies. Process Evaluation: At the end of the overarching LL study, stakeholders will be invited to participate in one-to-one semi-structured interviews to explore topics encompassing, for example, their study experience, study acceptability, factors affecting participation rates (e.g., barriers and enablers), study engagement, perceived study effectiveness, and suggestions for improvement. However, in line with the LL methodology, the evaluation details will be more fully articulated and confirmed as the LL study progresses. The interviews will be guided by the Acceptability, Practicality, Effectiveness, Affordability, Spill-over effects, and Equity (APEASE) criteria.