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Good nutrition is necessary for optimal growth and development in young children. Nutrition risk screening can identify those at risk and to refer them for assessment and treatment. The NutriSTEP® (Nutrition Risk Screening for Every Preschooler) questionnaires are 17-item, community-based, parent-administered questionnaires for identifying nutritional risk in toddlers (18-35 months) and preschoolers (3-5 years). Internet versions are available on the Dietitians of Canada website as part of a Nutri-eSTEP online tool. NutriSTEP® is mandated for use in Ontario and New Brunswick and is also used in other provinces. NutriSTEP® has been implemented in Canadian jurisdictions and in research settings. Many health care practitioners, mainly registered dietitians, and policy makers, are asking for evidence that NutriSTEP® makes a difference and this project is proposed to show that nutrition screening with NutriSTEP® with its accompanying nutrition education resources will increase knowledge and change nutrition-related practices by parents of preschoolers.
This research will be a randomized control trial with more than 150 parents/caregivers of toddlers and preschoolers. The treatment group will receive screening with the Nutri-eSTEP version of NutriSTEP® and will receive the accompanying nutrition education messages and links to resources. A control group will receive the screening treatment at the end of a 12 week intervention. At the beginning and end of the 12 week period, parents/caregivers will fill out questionnaires on parental nutrition knowledge and nutrition-related behaviour (including attitudes and intentions).
This will be the first study of nutrition risk screening with NutriSTEP® to determine if the screening process, along with its accompanying nutrition education messages makes a difference.
Full description
Study Design The proposed research will be a wait-listed randomized control trial of the efficacy of the NutriSTEP® screening process for toddlers and preschoolers. The treatment group will undergo screening with Nutri-eSTEP plus its accompanying nutrition education messages and links to resources. A control group will be wait-listed to receive the treatment (Nutri-eSTEP plus its accompanying nutrition education treatment) at the end of the intervention period.
Outcome variables Participants Parents/caregivers of toddlers and preschoolers will be recruited at various Ontario Early Years Centres (OEYCs) in southern Ontario.
Sample Size The sample size (http://www.stat.ubc.ca/) is estimated at 63 per group based on difference in scores on the NKQ of 2 (~half of the difference found between students and parents), with a SD of 4, alpha of 0.05 and statistical power of 0.80 (2-tailed). An allowance for 20% attrition (based on our previous test-retest reliability studies)(7,8,19) will see 77 participants per group recruited. This will also allow for enough power for an improvement in NutriSTEP® scores based on a difference of 2.2 units, standard deviation of 5, alpha of 0.05 and statistical power of 0.80 (1-tailed)(based on a difference in NutriSTEP® scores over 3 months of a parenting intervention study (56). The total sample of 154 will be recruited from ~20 OEYCs @ ~10 participants/site (based on previous experience).
Intervention NutriSTEP® Questionnaire: The toddler and preschool NutriSTEP® questionnaires will form part of the intervention for this trial.
Nutrition Education Material:
"How to Build a Healthy Toddler/Preschooler": This booklet will be part of the intervention for this trial. "How to Build a Healthy Toddler/Preschooler" are 4-page brochures that have key messages relevant to the questions on the NutriSTEP® questionnaires. Recommendations from Canada's Food Guide (CFG) are included as well as suggestions for credible nutrition resources.
Nutri-eSTEP Feedback Messages: As part of the Nutri-eSTEP platform, parents receive feedback messages based on their responses to each question on the NutriSTEP®. The feedback messages are categorized into two categories: "What is Going Well" and "What to Work On". For this study, we will provide print copies of the Results and feedback messages to participants as part of the treatment.
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166 participants in 2 patient groups
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Data sourced from clinicaltrials.gov
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