What is NutriSTEP®?
NutriSTEP® is a set of questionnaires for parents and caregivers of toddlers (18-35 months) and preschoolers (3-5 years) to assess nutritional risk. The valid and reliable 17-item NutriSTEP® questionnaires include topics such as:
- Food and nutrient intake
- Physical growth and development
- Physical activity and sedentary behaviour
- Food security
- Feeding environment
A score for potential nutrition-related problems can be calculated based on answers to questions. The NutriSTEP® questionnaires can be used in a variety of settings such as:
- Daycares
- Child and parent programs
- Parent education programs
- School readiness programs
- Primary health care (e.g., physicians’ offices and community health centres)
The online NutriSTEP® questionnaires (Nutri-eSTEP) provide parents with direct access.
Why is NutriSTEP® important?
Approximately 18-23% of the population of young children aged 18 months to 5 years have been identified as at a high nutritional risk. Poor nutrition in young children can lead to:
- Growth problems such as failure to thrive and obesity
- Anemia
- Poor eating habits that become lifelong
- Lack of school readiness
- Learning difficulties at school
Using the NutriSTEP® questionnaires supports:
- Early identification of potential nutrition problems for parents and communities
- Parent referral to community resources
- Parental nutrition education
- Planning and evaluating preschool nutrition interventions
- A means of monitoring community child nutrition programs
- Surveillance
Community Partners & Primary Care Providers
- If you have questions related to research, please contact Janis Randall Simpson at rjanis@uoguelph.ca.
- If you have questions about how to access the NutriSTEP® Implementation Toolkit, please refer to the Community Partners section. This section provides a link to the complete Toolkit on the Nutrition Resource Centre website.
- If you have questions about implementing nutrition screening in your primary care practice, please refer to the Primary Care Providers section.
- If you have questions about Nutri-eSTEP data collection, please contact Janis Randall Simpson at rjanis@uoguelph.ca.
Parents
Parents and caregivers looking for information about healthy eating are encouraged to:
- Complete the online Nutri-eSTEP questionnaires, in English, to get immediate feedback on how well their child is doing and links to credible resources.
- Visit Unlockfood.ca to find articles, menu plans, videos, and recipes.
- Visit Dietitians of Canada website to find a dietitian and find out if your provincial government offers a free dial-a-dietitian service.
Trademarks & Copyright
- NutriSTEP® mark and Bear Logo are owned by Public Health Sudbury & Districts (Ontario).
- Preschool NutriSTEP® questionnaire is the copyright of Public Health Sudbury & Districts, Janis Randall Simpson and Heather Keller.
- Toddler NutriSTEP® questionnaire is the copyright of Janis Randall Simpson, Lee Rysdale and Heather Keller.
- NutriSTEP® questions must not be copied, adapted, modified or translated or published in any form without the permission of the copyright owners.
- NutriSTEP® questionnaires are copyright protected and can only be obtained by acquiring a licence. There is no fee to acquire a licence. Refer to: Acquire a Licence.
- For any other licensing inquiries, contact rjanis@uoguelph.ca
- Copyright for the www.nutristep.ca website is with University of Guelph.
- Copyright for the Nutri-eSTEP platform is with NutriSTEP® Research Group (Janis Randall Simpson, Lee Rysdale, Joanne Beyers, Heather Keller, Jonathan Maguire, Catherine Birken, Kate Braddon and Kathryn Walton).
- Copyright for the NutriSTEP® Implementation Toolkit (2015) is with the Nutrition Resource Centre (Ontario) and Janis Randall Simpson.
* Disclaimer: The views expressed in the materials associated with NutriSTEP® do not necessarily represent the official policies of the above collaborators.