VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF THE NUTRITION SCREENING TOOL FOR EVERY PRESCHOOLER (NUTRISTEP®) SCALE IN IRANIAN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

Background and Aim: To assess the validity and reliability of the Persian version of Nutrition Screening Tool for Every Preschooler (NutriSTEP®), a community-based nutritionscreening tool for assessment of nutrition risk in preschool children. Methods: NutriSTEP® is a community-based nutrition screening tool for preschool children. A cross-validation study of the Persian version of NutriSTEP® questionnaire was conducted on 193 Iranian preschool children in Mashhad, Iran. Forward and backward translation and face validity was assessed based on the adaptation guidelines. Criterion validity was confirmed by nutritionist risk score which was determined by an expert according to medical and nutritional history, anthropometric measurements and healthy eating index of children. Content validity, construct validity and reliability of the Persian version was assessed as well. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves was used to detect the reasonable cut-points of the Persian version.Results: Content validity index (CVI) was 0.9-1 and content validity ratio (CVR) was 0.63-1, which both are acceptable. The scores were significantly different in three categories of nutritionist risk scores (p=0.007). Item-to-scale correlation analysis shows significant correlation between each item and the total score [ r between 0.18 (question 7) and 0.62 (question 17)]. Significant almost strong correlation exists between test-retest scores of NutriSTEP (r=0.68, p<0.001). A moderate risk cut point of ≥27 was identified for mild to moderate risk. Analysis of correlation was also significant between the NutriSTEP score and nutritionist risk score (p=0.003, r=0.23). Conclusion: The Persian NutriSTEP questionnaire is both valid and reliable for screening of nutritional risk in preschoole children.

کلیدواژه ها:

childhood obesity ، nutrition risk ، NutriSTEP ، validity ، Persian