Turkish version of the Preschool Children’s Nutrition Screening Tool (NutriSTEP®): a validity and reliability study

OBJECTIVE: In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the Turkish validity and reliability of the Preschool Children’s Nutrition Screening Tool (NutriSTEP®), which is used to determine the nutritional status of children in the preschool period. SUBJECT/METHODS: The sample of the study consists of 333 parents with children aged 3–5 years old living in Turkey, who voluntarily agreed to participate in the study and answered the Turkish NutriSTEP® form online. The forward and backward translation method was applied for the language validity of the Turkish form. Expert opinion was sought for content validity. Factor analyzes were applied to determine the construct validity of the Turkish form. Original NutriSTEP® and Iran NutriSTEP® were evaluated to assess cut-points. To evaluate the reliability of the Turkish version, the test–retest method was used. RESULTS: As a result of expert opinion, the Content Validity Index was found to be 0.97. According to exploratory factor analysis, unlike the original NutriSTEP®, five sub-dimensions were obtained and the 13th question with a factor load of less than 0.30 was removed. According to the confirmatory factor analysis, it was shown that the scale was suitable for Turkish society. There were positive, high and statistically significant correlations between the NutriSTEP® scale test–retest scores (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The Turkish NutriSTEP® questionnaire is both valid and reliable for the screening of nutrition risk in preschool children of the Turkish population.