The Eating Disorders Public Health Surveillance Working Group is a multi-state, interdisciplinary group of researchers and professionals united by a shared goal of advancing the surveillance of eating disorders in the U.S., with a particular focus on surveillance through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). Members include state YRBS coordinators, epidemiologists, and public health and medical professionals. Established in 2022, our goal is to ensure the routine collection of eating disorder data among youth in the U.S. so as to help inform treatment, prevention, and health equity interventions. This has included efforts to improve the surveillance of disordered eating behaviors in the YRBS at both the federal and state level, with important wins thus far in Alaska and Arizona.
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Members
Recent Events
WEBINAR: State-Level Eating Disorder Prevention and Surveillance: Current Initiatives and Ways to Take Action
On July 18th, 2024, the Working Group hosted a webinar focused on current issues related to state-level eating disorder prevention and surveillance. Presenters, including eating disorder researchers and public health professionals, discussed the current landscape of eating disorder prevention and surveillance, and highlighted key ways for individuals and groups to take action in their state, with an emphasis on enhanced data collection via the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). You can watch a recording of the webinar here.
Resources
The Eating Disorders Public Health Surveillance Working Group is developing a series of resources for researchers, public health professionals, and policy makers. Stay tuned for more coming soon!
