The Research on Identity Specific Eating Disorder Symptoms (RISES) Project implemented youth-engaged research (YER) methods by forming a youth advisory board (YAB) of five transgender, non-binary, and gender-diverse (TGD) youth and involving them in all stages of a qualitative study. YAB members contributed to the codebook, coded two to six transcripts each, reviewed themes and illustrative quotes, and co-authored the manuscript. After one year, retention among YAB members was 83.3% and 100% of trained YAB members completed qualitative analysis training. This report describes the methods used to recruit, train, and partner with the YAB and summarizes lessons learned from this process.
Youth-engaged research (YER) positions young people as collaborators rather than only as participants, integrating their lived experience into research design, analysis, and dissemination. In community-engaged research, partnering with affected communities helps address power differentials, respect lived experience, and enhance ecological validity. YER also builds capacity among youth by offering skill development and empowerment, while researchers gain insight into practical feasibility and culturally relevant perspectives.
Research with TGD youth has increased over recent decades, yet application of YER methods remains uncommon in this field. Given historical institutional mistreatment and pervasive discrimination against TGD people, YER strategies are particularly important to build trust and ensure that research priorities and procedures align with community needs. Prior reviews of participatory TGD youth research have highlighted YABs’ impact on study design and recruitment. However, prior to this work, there were limited examples of youth partnering explicitly in qualitative analysis. This study addresses that gap by reporting methods and lessons from training a TGD YAB to perform qualitative coding and contribute to thematic analysis.
RISES seeks to advance understanding of disordered eating among TGD youth to inform prevention and treatment for behaviors such as restrictive eating, binge eating, laxative abuse, and compulsive exercise. To inform recruitment practices across RISES studies, the team conducted a qualitative study of barriers and facilitators to research participation with 21 TGD youth aged 12–22 in 2025. Throughout that qualitative study, the research team partnered with a YAB of five TGD youth who advised on study activities from recruitment through dissemination.
The principal investigator is a cisgender woman and gender-affirming adolescent medicine physician with over eight years of research experience with TGD youth. To address insider/outsider dynamics commonly encountered in community-engaged research, the team prioritized TGD representation. Two TGD research staff conducted qualitative interviews (research coordinator and community consultant). The community consultant is a mental health provider with expertise in disordered eating among TGD people. Seven graduate or medical students mentored the YAB; four of those students identify as TGD. Two additional TGD medical students assisted with coding and thematic analysis.
YAB recruitment and maintenance were guided by Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) principles: grounding the work in lived experience, involving youth as collaborators across study phases, and focusing on research that aims to improve outcomes for TGD youth. Recruitment began on 08/04/2024 and targeted TGD youth aged 16–21 with a history of disordered eating. Eligibility was determined using selected items from the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire-Short (EDE-QS); chosen items assessed disordered eating behaviors rather than body dissatisfaction, recognizing that body-related cognitions can reflect gender dysphoria rather than eating pathology.
The team distributed recruitment materials through TGD organizations and gender-affirming clinical providers. Interested individuals completed a REDCap screener including the EDE-QS and demographic questions. After screening, potential YAB members completed a Zoom interview with the TGD research coordinator where they discussed community advocacy experience and motivations for participation. A follow-up reflective task asked candidates to review the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) and Trevor Project websites about eating disorders in sexual and gender minority populations and respond to reflection questions; this task served both as an additional assessment opportunity and to reduce attrition by clarifying expectations.
Of 12 individuals who completed screening, 8 completed the interview and follow-up task. Six were invited to provide written consent/assent and join the YAB. Two candidates were not invited due to high levels of distress related to disordered eating, which raised concerns about the stress of ongoing involvement. One YAB member discontinued after one month because of competing academic and work commitments. During the active phase described, five YAB members participated: at recruitment three were 18 years old and two were 16; gender identities included transmasculine, transmasculine/non-binary, transfeminine, and non-binary. Four identified as white, three as Hispanic; four resided in Virginia and one in California. Institutional Review Board approval was obtained (Virginia Commonwealth University IRB HM20026881).
The five YAB members provided input across all aspects of the qualitative study. Virtual Zoom meetings occurred one to two times per month and included training sessions. At the first meeting, the group established a community agreement and guidelines to maintain an inclusive, affirming, and safe environment and set expectations for participation (for example, follow-up if members missed multiple meetings). YAB members were able to choose which responsibilities they took on.
Specific responsibilities are referenced in the article’s Table 1; the available source excerpt ends mid-sentence in this section, and the full listing of responsibilities and remaining text were not included in the provided source material. Therefore, additional operational details about each YAB role beyond what is summarized here were not reported in the available excerpt.
YAB members participated in the qualitative analysis process: they helped develop the codebook, each coded between two and six interview transcripts, and reviewed emergent themes and exemplar quotations. Training was provided during YAB meetings and through mentorship by research staff and graduate/medical students. The manuscript reports that 100% of YAB members trained in qualitative analysis completed that training. The precise curriculum, duration, and evaluation methods for the training are not fully detailed in the available excerpt.
After one year of partnership, the project reported an 83.3% retention rate among all YAB members and that all YAB members trained in qualitative analysis completed training (100%). The article notes that YAB members co-authored the paper, demonstrating substantive involvement in analysis and dissemination. The RISES qualitative study that the YAB supported included 21 TGD youth interviews conducted in 2025 to inform recruitment strategies and research participation approaches.
The authors frame the manuscript as a description of lessons learned from partnering with and training a TGD YAB to conduct qualitative analysis. The report highlights the value of centering lived experience, prioritizing TGD representation on the research team, and using staged recruitment tasks to assess readiness and reduce attrition. The team also took care to exclude potential YAB members experiencing high distress when continued involvement could exacerbate their condition.
Because the source excerpt terminates partway through the responsibilities section, some operational details, the full set of lessons, and any specific stepwise guidance or tools used during training and analysis were not available in the provided material. The manuscript also states there were no research data to share for this report because YAB members are research team members rather than research participants.
This project demonstrates a practical model for involving a small TGD youth advisory board in qualitative analysis, from recruitment through coding and manuscript authorship. Key elements reported include use of targeted screening and staged recruitment tasks, priority given to TGD representation among staff and mentors, structured remote meetings with agreed community guidelines, and hands-on training that enabled YAB members to contribute to codebook development, transcript coding, and thematic review. Several specific operational details and the full list of responsibilities were not included in the available source excerpt.