The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

survey Survey may refer to: Statistics and human research * Statistical survey, a method for collecting quantitative information about items in a population * Survey (human research), including opinion polls Spatial measurement * Surveying, the techniq ...

that looks at behavioral risk factors. Begun in 1984, the BRFSS is run by

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

and conducted by participating individual state health departments. The survey is administered by

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

and is the world's largest such survey. In 2009, the BRFSS began conducting surveys by cellular phone in addition to traditional “landline” telephones.

Description

The BRFSS is a cross-sectional telephone survey conducted by state health departments with technical and methodological assistance provided by the CDC. In addition to all 50 states, the BRFSS is also conducted by health departments in The District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.{{cite web , url=https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/about/brfss_faq.htm , title= BRFSS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) , publisher=Center for Disease Control Individual states can add their own questions to the survey instrument, which consists of a core set of questions on certain topics like

car safety Automotive safety is the study and practice of design, construction, equipment and regulation to minimize the occurrence and consequences of traffic collisions involving motor vehicles. Road traffic safety more broadly includes roadway design. ...

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's ...

, or exercise. States get funding from the federal government to administer these

questionnaire A questionnaire is a research instrument that consists of a set of questions (or other types of prompts) for the purpose of gathering information from respondents through survey or statistical study. A research questionnaire is typically a mix of ...

s, and they pay for the additional questions themselves. The U.S. federal government can then compare states based on the core questions to allocate funding and focus interventions. The states themselves also use the survey results to focus interventions for the public and to decide what is worth their while to focus on. City, county, tribal, and local governments also rely on BRFSS data for information about their jurisdictions.

References

External links

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

CDC Website
Surveys (human research) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Description

See also

References

External links