Improving Health Outcomes Through Investigations of Wabanaki Food Systems in Maine

NCT07561593 — Not applicable, Recruiting, 500 participants, Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness

ClinicalTrials Daily · Areas · Conditions · Drugs · Sponsors ·

Registry	NCT07561593
Status	Recruiting
Phase	Not applicable
Study type	Interventional; na, single group, masking: none, prevention
Enrollment	500 (Estimated)
Sponsor	Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness (Other); collaborators: Yale University, Washington State University, Drexel University
Conditions	Food Insecurity
Interventions	Upscaling the Wabanaki Mobile Food Pantry Program (Behavioral)
Dates	start 2026-05-11, primary completion 2026-08-01 (estimated), completion 2027-09-01 (estimated), first posted 2026-05-01, last updated 2026-05-26
Locations	1 site in United States

-Summary

Wabanaki ancestral lands historically provided abundant resources, allowing Wabanaki people to rely exclusively on hunting, fishing, and gathering for all their subsistence needs. However, as their sacred hunting and fishing grounds were lost to colonization, the Wabanaki people lost access to their traditional foods, which has had devastating impacts on the communities' health and well-being. Without access to traditional foods like fiddleheads, corn, beans, squash, wild rice, fish, and many others, the Wabanaki people experienced a surge in many nutrition-related health problems, such as diabetes, obesity, and heart-disease, which have only increased exponentially with time. This Community Research Project (CRP) seeks to improve these health outcomes for Wabanaki people by upscaling the Wabanaki Mobile Food Pantry (WMFP), an existing program that delivers fresh and traditional foods to the Tribal communities. The CRP is grounded in the understanding that food sovereignty is fundamental to achieving and sustaining the health and well-being of Wabanaki communities. The upscaled WMFP aims to increase community access to fresh, traditional, or locally sourced foods, improve community perceptions of food pantries, support cultural connection, promote sustainable, culturally relevant food systems, and increase Tribal members' knowledge and self-efficacy surrounding the cultivation, preparation, and preservation of traditional foods.

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+Arms and interventions

Arm	Type	Interventions	Description
Mobile Food Pantry Community Intervention Group	Experimental	Behavioral: Upscaling the Wabanaki Mobile Food Pantry Program	Community participants exposed to the upscaled Mobile Food Pantry Intervention

Upscaling the Wabanaki Mobile Food Pantry Program (Behavioral): Community-led expansion of a Mobile Food Pantry program designed to improve access to nutritious and culturally appropriate foods and address food insecurity among Wabanaki communities. Outcomes are evaluated using a pre-post study design.

+Outcome measures

Primary outcomes

Food Security Status (Hunger Vital Sign / 6-Item HFSSM Score) [Baseline (Wabanaki Community Survey pilot period, approximately 3-6 months)]: Food security will be measured using the validated 6-Item USDA Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM) included in the Wabanaki Community Survey. The outcome will report food security status categorized according to standard scoring criteria (e.g., high, marginal, low, very low food security) Unit of Measure: Food security category (per HFSSM scoring) This outcome will be used in subsequent analyses examining its correlation with Mobile Food Pantry utilization.

Secondary outcomes

Health-Related Quality of Life (CDC HRQoL Indicators) [Baseline (during Wabanaki Community Survey data collection period)]: Health-related quality of life will be measured using the CDC HRQoL-4 indicators included in the Wabanaki Community Survey. Measures include: * Number of physically unhealthy days (past 30 days) * Number of mentally unhealthy days (past 30 days) * Self-rated general health (5-point scale) Each indicator will be reported separately. * Unit of Measure: * Days (physically unhealthy days, mentally unhealthy days) * Units on a 5-point scale (self-rated health) These measures will be used in analyses assessing their correlation with Mobile Food Pantry utilization.

+Eligibility

Sex: All, ages: 18 Years to any, accepts healthy volunteers

Inclusion Criteria:

* Adults age 18 years and older
* Members of a Wabanaki community

Exclusion Criteria:

-None

+Locations (1)

Facility	City	Country	Status
Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness	Bangor, Maine	United States	Recruiting

+Funding

NIH grants: OT2OD035832

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