Collins Rebecca A, Burrows Tracy L, Hutchesson Melinda, Adam Marc, Clarke Erin D, Collins Clare E
School of Health Sciences, College of Health Medicine and Wellbeing, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia.
Food and Nutrition Research Group, Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, New South Wales, Australia.
J Hum Nutr Diet. 2025 Oct;38(5):e70118. doi: 10.1111/jhn.70118.
No Money No Time is a culinary nutrition website focused on diet quality improvement. The aim was to compare participant retention in a 6-week eHealth challenge, with and without use of financial incentives and to compare demographic characteristic, diet quality and engagement outcomes between them.
The single-arm, pre-post studies [Spring Eatz (30 August to 17 September, 2023) and RE$ET (20th February to March, 2024)] recruited adults ≥ 18 years from Australia into a 6-week nutrition challenge delivered via weekly emails that directed participants to the No Money No Time (NMNT) purpose-built culinary and nutrition-related health website from after completing the embedded Healthy Eating Quiz (HEQ) and consenting to data use for research purposes. At the start of each challenge week participants received an email with links to targeted NMNT content, relevant recipes, plus specific time and cost-efficient advice to help improve dietary patterns. Weeks 2-5 included a prize draw of 4 × AUD$25 eGift cards randomly drawn from participants actively engaging with challenge materials and a week 6 final draw of 4 × AUD$100 eGift cards from participants completing the HEQ and feedback survey post-challenge. Data was collected on diet quality (HEQ score), demographics (gender, age, vegetarian status, number of people/weekly household grocery expenditure, expenditure on food purchased away from the home, weight and height). NMNT website analytics were collected via Active Campaign software.
The incentivised challenge recruited significantly more males (22% vs. 15%) and a younger demographic (mean age 45 y vs. 50 y) compared to unincentivized (p < 0.01). There was a significantly greater 6-week retention in the incentivised challenge compared to no incentivisation (21% vs. 16%, z-score = 2.14, p < 0.05), with significant increases in diet quality (HEQ score) in adjusted models ( + 4.5 points, p < 0.05), which was not significantly different to the unincentivized challenge p = 0.09.
The 6-week eHealth nutrition challenge using financial incentives improved diet quality and led to significantly greater retention compared to an unincentivized challenge, with overall retention still relatively low. Engagement with weekly emails exceeds global email marketing campaigns. Future iterations should incorporate strategies to increase participant engagement. An email campaign represents a low-cost approach to achieve short-term improvement in diet quality.
“没钱没时间”是一个专注于改善饮食质量的烹饪营养网站。其目的是比较在为期6周的电子健康挑战中，有无经济激励措施对参与者留存率的影响，并比较两者之间的人口统计学特征、饮食质量和参与结果。
单组前后对照研究[春季饮食挑战（2023年8月30日至9月17日）和重启挑战（2024年2月20日至3月）]招募了来自澳大利亚的18岁及以上成年人，参与为期6周的营养挑战，通过每周电子邮件进行，引导参与者在完成嵌入式健康饮食测验（HEQ）并同意将数据用于研究目的后，访问“没钱没时间”（NMNT）专门构建的烹饪和营养相关健康网站。在每个挑战周开始时，参与者会收到一封电子邮件，其中包含指向NMNT目标内容、相关食谱的链接，以及特定的节省时间和成本的建议，以帮助改善饮食模式。第2至5周包括从积极参与挑战材料的参与者中随机抽取4张价值25澳元的电子礼品卡的抽奖活动，第6周从完成HEQ和挑战后反馈调查的参与者中进行4张价值100澳元的电子礼品卡的最终抽奖。收集了饮食质量（HEQ分数）、人口统计学（性别、年龄、素食状况、家庭每周食品杂货支出人数、外出购买食品的支出、体重和身高）的数据。NMNT网站分析通过Active Campaign软件收集。
与无激励措施的挑战相比，有激励措施的挑战招募的男性明显更多（22%对15%），且参与者年龄更小（平均年龄45岁对50岁）（p<0.01）。与无激励措施相比，有激励措施的挑战在6周内的留存率显著更高（21%对16%，z分数=2.14，p<0.05），在调整模型中饮食质量（HEQ分数）显著提高（+4.5分，p<0.05），与无激励措施的挑战相比无显著差异（p=0.09）。
与无激励措施的挑战相比，为期6周的使用经济激励措施的电子健康营养挑战提高了饮食质量，并导致显著更高的留存率，尽管总体留存率仍然相对较低。对每周电子邮件的参与度超过了全球电子邮件营销活动。未来的迭代应纳入提高参与者参与度的策略。电子邮件活动是实现饮食质量短期改善的低成本方法。
