Projects and activities

ED HIT activities cover research and patient and public involvement. We aim to champion equality, diversity and inclusion in all that we do as a HIT.

Eating Disorders HIT Body Mass Index (BMI) survey

The NHS Body Mass Index (BMI) calculator is a standard way to measure whether people have a healthy weight. Your BMI result is displayed as a number with a corresponding category of underweight, a healthy weight, overweight or obese.

Public contributors have suggested that the NHS BMI calculator is not culturally sensitive, as perceptions of obesity change from person to person, and between people from different cultures. It was also acknowledged that maintaining a healthy weight can sometimes force people to practise restrictive eating habits.

The HIT has worked with the Healthy Weight HIT to launch an anonymous survey to find out how people feel about the NHS BMI calculator.

Take the survey

Research

Our HIT director Christine Ramsey-Wade is an academic based at University of the West of England (UWE Bristol). She is involved in a range of projects, including supervising doctoral theses on trans and non-binary experiences of eating disorders and the experience of disordered eating among South Asian university students.

We are now evaluating some of our HIT activities, including the Eating Disorder Support App that was launched in 2022. We also conducted research in 2022 with young people from Emerging Minds which we are currently analysing.

Patient and public engagement

We hold a Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) event annually. This event is organised and hosted by our Peer Co-Director Katie and our PPI Lead Carolyn. It’s an event for those with lived experience of eating disorders or eating difficulties, as well as family, carers and friends. Please see more details in the PPI section.