The Design and Testing of a Text Message for Use as an Informational Nudge in a Novel Food Insecurity Intervention

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear authors,

The topic under the preparation of this research paper is very important and valuable. However, you should improve your manuscript to a more scientific sound.

In particular, the methodology should be improved, the results also should be enhanced and discussion too.

Author Response

Thank you for your valuable feedback. 

Additions have been made to the Data Analysis section of the Methods to provide a more thorough description of the Methods. 

Summary sentences at the end of many paragraphs in the results were refined to present the themes detected during the content analysis with greater clarity and thoroughness while referring to the frequency emphasis of the qualitative content analysis.

The Discussion section was expanded to enhance the transparency of the results through greater elaboration of the small sample size of this study and how the study sample may have impacted the study outcomes. We hope that these modifications to the conclusions better support the Results.

Thank you for your guidance and feedback.

Reviewer 2 Report

While this paper is incredibly interesting, I am greatly concerned about the sample included in this analysis. I believe that in order for Phase 1 to have been implemented and assessed effectively the authors would either need to: 

1. Methodologically better justify their sample of 10 respondents to interviews. 

or 2. Have the 10 respondents be more representative of those included in a food insecurity intervention. The authors do not state if the individuals identify as food insecure. Further, the demographic distribution implies that the sample was predominantly highly educated and identified as White or Asian - the two racial/ethnic groups with the lowest prevalence of food insecurity nationally. Thus, I am not sure if we can infer that these messages would be as relevant to food insecure food pantry users because it is not clear that the respondents to phase 1 are understanding of that demographic's perspective. Further, these issues with the sample's representativeness of the intended clientele were not discussed as possible limitations. 

While I think the paper is interesting, I think that it was ultimately done with the wrong sample to answer this research question. 

Author Response

Thank you for your valuable feedback.

We acknowledge your concern with the small sample size that was included in the first phase of our two-phase feasibility study.

A brief explanation and citation have been integrated into the Participant Sample section of the methods to explain the decision-making behind our recruitment of a small sample for this study phase. Additions have also been made to the Strengths & Limitations section of the Discussion that explain the likely drawbacks of our recruitment of a small sample.

We greatly appreciate you highlighting the lack of racial/ethnic and educational diversity in our phase 1 sample, and how our sample could have been much more comparable to those who are most likely to experience food insecurity. An additional limitation has been added to the Strengths & Limitations section that addresses this shortcoming.

Thank you again for your thoughtful feedback.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The revised version corresponds to the required.

Author Response

Thank you for your expert review.