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Development of Spanish Nutrition Screening Tool for Hispanic Preschoolers
Denisse Arias1, Elaine Lemmon1, Marc-Aurel Martial2
1Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Science Department, Brigham Young University, ESC S 221, Provo, UT 84602, USA.
Insights
A new Spanish nutrition screening tool effectively identifies malnutrition risk in young Hispanic children. This culturally sensitive tool empowers parents to seek early interventions, improving health outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Nutrition
- Public Health
- Cultural Competency in Healthcare
Background:
- Hispanic children aged 3-5 are at higher risk for malnutrition.
- Culturally appropriate and validated nutrition screening tools are lacking for this demographic.
- Early nutrition interventions are crucial for at-risk populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a Spanish nutrition screening tool for 3-5-year-old Hispanic children.
- To enable Spanish-speaking parents to identify malnutrition risk factors in community settings.
- To ensure cultural sensitivity in nutrition assessment.
Main Methods:
- The study involved native Spanish speakers throughout all phases.
- Face and content validity were established via focus groups, expert reviews, and pilot testing.
- Criterion validity was assessed by comparing the tool's results with nutritionist assessments in 39 children.
Main Results:
- The Spanish nutrition screening tool demonstrated high sensitivity (91.67%) and specificity (81.48%).
- Positive predictive value was 96%, and negative predictive value was 69%.
- The tool showed strong potential for identifying malnutrition in the target population.
Conclusions:
- The developed Spanish nutrition screening tool is a promising resource for early malnutrition detection in Hispanic children.
- The tool can be utilized by Spanish-speaking parents in community settings.
- Further validation with larger sample sizes is recommended to confirm efficacy.
Abstract:
Nutrition screening tools may facilitate early nutrition interventions specifically with Hispanic populations that are already at higher risk. There is a paucity of culturally competent and validated nutrition screening tools for 3-5-year-old Hispanic children. The purpose of this study was to develop a Spanish nutrition screening tool for 3-5-year-old children to be used by Spanish-speaking parents in community settings to appropriately address malnutrition risk factors with cultural sensitivity. All phases of the study were conducted in Spanish with native Spanish speakers. Face and content validity were established using focus groups, expert reviews, and pilot testing of the tool with Spanish-speaking parents. Parents of children 3-5 years old whose primary language was Spanish (n = 39) completed the nutrition screening, and a nutritionist completed an in-depth nutrition assessment of these children. Criterion validity was measured by comparing the results of the nutrition screening tool with the in-depth nutrition assessment. The nutrition screening tool had a sensitivity of 91.67% and a specificity of 81.48%. The negative predictive value was 69%, and the positive predictive value was 96%. The nutrition screening tool may be used to identify malnutrition in Hispanic children and needs further validation in larger samples.
