Answer the Call to Improve Health in Vermont
The Vermont Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is a year-round phone survey. If you get a call on behalf of the Vermont Department of Health about participating in a survey, you may have been picked to take the BRFSS survey. If you want to check if the call you got was legitimate or have questions, please call 800-869-2871 or email [email protected].
Frequently Asked Questions
The BRFSS is a telephone survey of Vermont adult residents. Telephone numbers are randomly generated by a computer and we have no way of knowing whose number we are calling, or if it is a business, residential, or unlisted number. The BRFSS is an important public health tool for measuring adult health. It does this by reaching out directly to Vermont residents so that we can learn more about areas such as chronic disease prevalence, risk behaviors, demographics, health care access, and preventive behaviors.
The number of respondents can vary from year to year. However, Vermont usually surveys between 6,000 and 7,000 adult Vermont residents annually. In order to make sure the survey is representative of all Vermont adults, both landline and cell phone users are surveyed.
The BRFSS surveys adults 18 and older who reside in Vermont. Adults who live in Vermont for 30 or more days out of the year are considered Vermont residents for the survey. Those who live in an institution, such as a skilled nursing facility, group home or correctional facility are not eligible.
The Vermont BRFSS includes questions on chronic disease prevalence (e.g., asthma diagnosis), risk behaviors (e.g., currently smoke), demographics (e.g., gender), health care access (e.g., health insurance), and preventive behaviors (e.g., routine doctor visits). Infectious disease information is not typically collected as part of the BRFSS. Data on infectious diseases is collected and reported by the department’s Infectious Disease Section.
The national do-not-call list was enacted to control telemarketing companies that sell services and products over the phone. Research calls are not included in the federal regulations that apply to telemarketing calls. The BRFSS Survey is conducted for research and does not fall under current do-not-call list laws. The Health Department is not selling anything and you can choose to not participate, but your answers will help us to evaluate and guide important public health policy and programs. Information about telephone consumer rights can be obtained from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Information is also available from the Vermont Secretary of State.
The Health Department contracts with an organization called ICF Macro to complete the calls on our behalf. ICF Macro has call centers with interviewers who are located in other states.
