Grant: Operating Grant

Nutrition is vital for the support of optimal growth and development in childhood. Screening, or the early detection and referral of children with nutrition problems, is important in providing quality primary care. NutriSTEP (Nutrition Screening Tool for Every Preschooler), a one-of-a-kind, parent-administered questionnaire, has been developed and is a provincially recognized program in Ontario, funded by the Ministry of Health Promotion. The NutriSTEP program supports the establishment of preschool nutrition screening programs in Canada and other jurisdictions. Research has shown that 8-22% of preschoolers are identified as being at high nutritional risk, based on NutriSTEP scores. While the nutrition risk construct on which the NutriSTEP questions are based is likely similar for toddlers as for preschoolers, there are additional nutritional issues, such as weaning, use of table foods, juice and sweetened beverage consumption for toddlers that need to be considered for the development of a Toddler NutriSTEP. Adaptation of the existing questionnaire will be conducted using the same methods as for the original development of NutriSTEP and include: focus groups with parents and consultation with experts to determine changes to or additions to current questions; development and refinement of wording of questions; and, finally, validation and reliability testing of the Toddler NutriSTEP. This research will result in the availability of a Toddler NutriSTEP that can be disseminated through the existing channels for NutriSTEP.