Wounds and InjuriesIKHSNCT05318053
International Kink Health Study
An observational study of Wounds and Injuries and Mental Health, run by The Alternative Sexualities Health Research Alliance at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
The study design is an observational, longitudinal study with data collected online via a computer-assisted survey. Subjects will be recruited through non-probability snowball sampling. Objectives: 1. to document the prevalence of injuries and medical complications arising from kink activities 2. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Wounds and Injuries, Mental Health
- How many people
- 917 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 1 Jun 2022to 31 Mar 2024
- Phase
- Observational
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Study population: People involved in kink activities: power exchange (Dominant/submissive roles), bondage, sadomasochism, or fetish activities.
Who may be able to join
- Successful completion of screening checklist to indicate one of the following conditions:
- recurring, long-standing fantasies that focus on kink, in areas such as: power exchange (Dominant/submissive roles), bondage, sadomasochism, or fetish activities. By fetish, we mean a type of sexual desire in which gratification depends on or is significantly increased by particular objects, clothing items, parts of the body, or types of persons.
- OR currently engaging, or have engaged in the past, in consensual kink activities such as power exchange (Dominant/submissive roles), bondage, sadomasochism, or fetish activities.
- Age of majority in the legal jurisdiction (geographic location) where the survey is taken (usually age 18)
- English-language proficiency sufficient to understand the study instruments
- Completion of an electronically signed and dated informed consent form
Who cannot join
- People who respond "no" to the following question on the screening checklist
- I am familiar with the importance of consent and I endorse negotiation and safe words or safe signals in my sexual or kink play
- Clearly fraudulent use of the internet survey, such as: evidence of non-human data entry via an internet "bot", duplicative or prank data entry that entails contradictory or clearly fraudulent data.
- Any condition that, in the professional judgement of the Principal Investigator, should exclude an individual from participation in the study.
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
About this study
The study design is an observational, longitudinal study with data collected online via a computer-assisted survey. Subjects will be recruited through non-probability snowball sampling.
Objectives:
- to document the prevalence of injuries and medical complications arising from kink activities
- to document how healthcare is utilized by kink-involved people
- to document the health outcomes particular to a large sample of kink-involved people
- to test whether the centrality of kink identity and degree of community belongingness affect injuries, health outcomes, and healthcare utilization
Read the detailed description
In 2016, TASHRA conducted the first ever health survey of the U.S. kink community, examining issues of injuries, risky behavior, health status, and healthcare access and utilization, and patient satisfaction. It included measures of kink identity centrality, coming out, and kink community involvement as predictive factors.
The findings provided a broad map of possible health disparities in a manner that was intended to direct future research. As such, several included measures did not ask any further questions to collect more detail of the context of health disparities or injuries, or their impact on the participant.
The 2016 Kink Health Survey was an anonymous online survey that collected data from kink-involved people, from April 2016 to October 2016 (six month window). 1,118 individuals completed the survey. The results indicated the following (Sprott, Randall, Smith \& Woo, 2021):
- The percentage of people who reported past experiences of kink-related injury : 13.5%
- The percentage of people who reported delaying or avoiding healthcare because of perceived stigma: 19.0%.
- Past negative experiences with healthcare clinicians increased the odds of delaying or avoiding care significantly, with those participants four times more likely to avoid/delay care compared to participants who did not have negative experiences.
- A significant portion of participants had not disclosed their kink identity or behavior with their physical healthcare clinician (58.3%), nor with their therapist or mental healthcare clinician (49.6%).
The following health disparities were noted:
- 4.1% of the sample reported being HIV positive. This is approximately 10x the national average.
- 24% reported having attempted suicide at some point in their lives. This is approximately 5x the national average.
- 17.98% reported having PTSD. This is 2.6x the national average.
The current proposal, the International Kink Health Survey, proposes to follow up and expand on the previous 2016 survey in the following ways:
- to expand the collection of data beyond the United States, to other English-speaking populations
- to clarify the timing of health status measures and health disparities in relation to the initiation of kink activities
- to expand measures of stigma and discrimination, paying closer attention to questions of multiple minority status and intersectionality, and their relation to health status and health disparities
- to collect more in-depth information on kink community involvement, paying attention to online activities as part of community involvement in light of the COVID-19 pandemic
- to collect more fine-grained information about injuries or medical complications that arise from engagement in kink scenes/activities
- To collect more fine-grained information about suicidal behavior, mental health hospitalizations, and peoples' perceptions of the role of kink in relation to these mental health challenges
- to measure future intentions to disclose kink involvement to healthcare providers
The current proposed study will also address asexual people who engage in kink/BDSM behaviors (bondage, sadomasochism, and power exchange). The 2016 Kink Health Survey included this sexual orientation group, and we will continue to address this group.
The study design is an observational, longitudinal study with data collected online via a computer-assisted survey. Subjects will be recruited through non-probability snowball sampling. Interested individuals will initially be screened for inclusion criteria. All completed questionnaires will be reviewed to ascertain whether inclusion criteria are met or exclusion criteria are met. Those who meet the inclusion criteria will be sent a message asking them to read and sign the Informed Consent form if they wish to enroll in the study. Those who meet the exclusion criteria or who do not complete an Informed Consent form after 3 contacts will have their information on the screening questionnaire in Ripple de-identified. In order to characterize the prescreening sample for reporting purposes, the de-identified data will be retained and may be analyzed. If they provide their consent, prospective participants will be considered enrolled in the study and will be sent email invitations to fill out survey instrument 1, and then every week sent an email to fill out survey instrument 2, and so on, as appropriate.
IKHS Survey Instrument 1:
Demographics Kink Behaviors Kink Fantasies Kink/Sexual Desire
IKHS Survey Instrument 2:
Future Disclosure COVID
IKHS Survey Instrument 3:
Kink Injury
IKHS Survey Instrument 4:
Physical Health
IKHS Survey Instrument 5:
Mental Health
IKHS Survey Instrument 6:
Healthcare Utilization
IKHS Survey Instrument 7:
Sex Work Consent Violations Kink and Past Trauma Stigma Family Support Sexual Shame and Pride Scale
IKHS Survey Instrument 8:
Adverse Childhood Events / Sensation-Seeking Alcohol / Drug
- Conditions
- Wounds and Injuries, Mental Health
- Keywords
- BDSM, Sexual Minority, Kink
- Medical subject headings
- Wounds and Injuries, Psychological Well-Being
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 Cohort | 1. Successful completion of screening checklist to indicate one of the following conditions: 1. recurring, long-standing fantasies that focus on kink, in areas such as: power exchange (Dominant/submissive roles), bondage, sadomasochism, or fetish activities. By fetish, we mean a type of sexual desire in which gratification depends on or is significantly increased by particular objects, clothing items, parts of the body, or types of persons. 2. OR currently engaging, or have engaged in the past, in consensual kink activities such as power exchange (Dominant/submissive roles), bondage, sadomasochism, or fetish activities. 2. Age of majority in the legal jurisdiction (geographic location) where the survey is taken (usually age 18) 3. English-language proficiency sufficient to understand the study instruments 4. Completion of an electronically signed and dated informed consent form |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Kink Injury
self-report of injury or medical complication while engaged in kink activities; type of injury; frequency of injury
Measured: Year 1
Healthcare Utilization
self-report of: types of care; frequency of care; patient satisfaction; experiences of discrimination in healthcare interactions
Measured: Year 1
Health Disparities
self-report of: mental health issues; suicidality; obesity; sexually transmitted infections; blood-borne pathogens; alcohol/drug use
Measured: Year 1
Secondary outcomes (3)
Community Belongingness
self-report of sense of belonging to a kink community
Measured: Year 1
Centrality of Kink Identity
self-report of felt centrality of kink identity to sense of self
Measured: Year 1
Concealment / Disclosure of Kink Involvement
self-report of behavior on disclosure of kink identity or kink involvement
Measured: Year 1
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted8 Apr 2022
- Study start1 Jun 2022
- Primary completion31 Mar 2024
- Study completion31 Mar 2024
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (2)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Wounds and InjuriesStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Observational
- Observational model
- Cohort
- Time perspective
- Prospective
- Enrolment
- 917 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- The Alternative Sexualities Health Research Alliance
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Richard A Sprott, PhD, Principal investigator, The Alternative Sexualities Health Research Alliance
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05318053
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- T2021-01
- Acronym
- IKHS
- Status last verified
- Feb 2025
- First submitted
- 15 Jan 2022
- Last updated
- 24 Feb 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Publications
Sprott RA, Randall A, Smith K, Woo L. Rates of Injury and Healthcare Utilization for Kink-Identified Patients. J Sex Med. 2021 Oct;18(10):1721-1734. doi: 10.1016/j.jsxm.2021.08.001. Epub 2021 Sep 2.
PubMed 34481743Waldura JF, Arora I, Randall AM, Farala JP, Sprott RA. Fifty Shades of Stigma: Exploring the Health Care Experiences of Kink-Oriented Patients. J Sex Med. 2016 Dec;13(12):1918-1929. doi: 10.1016/j.jsxm.2016.09.019. Epub 2016 Oct 27.
PubMed 28340946
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 24 Feb 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- International Kink Health Study
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05318053
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- IKHS / T2021-01
- Conditions
- Wounds and Injuries, Mental Health
- Keywords
- BDSM, Sexual Minority, Kink
- Study type
- Observational
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 917 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- The Alternative Sexualities Health Research AllianceUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 1 Jun 2022 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 31 Mar 2024 (actual)
- Study completion
- 31 Mar 2024 (actual)
- First posted
- 8 Apr 2022 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The study design is an observational, longitudinal study with data collected online via a computer-assisted survey. Subjects will be recruited through non-probability snowball sampling.
Objectives:
- to document the prevalence of injuries and medical complications arising from kink activities
- to document how healthcare is utilized by kink-involved people
- to document the health outcomes particular to a large sample of kink-involved people
- to test whether the centrality of kink identity and degree of community belongingness affect injuries, health outcomes, and healthcare utilization
Detailed description
In 2016, TASHRA conducted the first ever health survey of the U.S. kink community, examining issues of injuries, risky behavior, health status, and healthcare access and utilization, and patient satisfaction. It included measures of kink identity centrality, coming out, and kink community involvement as predictive factors.
The findings provided a broad map of possible health disparities in a manner that was intended to direct future research. As such, several included measures did not ask any further questions to collect more detail of the context of health disparities or injuries, or their impact on the participant.
The 2016 Kink Health Survey was an anonymous online survey that collected data from kink-involved people, from April 2016 to October 2016 (six month window). 1,118 individuals completed the survey. The results indicated the following (Sprott, Randall, Smith \& Woo, 2021):
- The percentage of people who reported past experiences of kink-related injury : 13.5%
- The percentage of people who reported delaying or avoiding healthcare because of perceived stigma: 19.0%.
- Past negative experiences with healthcare clinicians increased the odds of delaying or avoiding care significantly, with those participants four times more likely to avoid/delay care compared to participants who did not have negative experiences.
- A significant portion of participants had not disclosed their kink identity or behavior with their physical healthcare clinician (58.3%), nor with their therapist or mental healthcare clinician (49.6%).
The following health disparities were noted:
- 4.1% of the sample reported being HIV positive. This is approximately 10x the national average.
- 24% reported having attempted suicide at some point in their lives. This is approximately 5x the national average.
- 17.98% reported having PTSD. This is 2.6x the national average.
The current proposal, the International Kink Health Survey, proposes to follow up and expand on the previous 2016 survey in the following ways:
- to expand the collection of data beyond the United States, to other English-speaking populations
- to clarify the timing of health status measures and health disparities in relation to the initiation of kink activities
- to expand measures of stigma and discrimination, paying closer attention to questions of multiple minority status and intersectionality, and their relation to health status and health disparities
- to collect more in-depth information on kink community involvement, paying attention to online activities as part of community involvement in light of the COVID-19 pandemic
- to collect more fine-grained information about injuries or medical complications that arise from engagement in kink scenes/activities
- To collect more fine-grained information about suicidal behavior, mental health hospitalizations, and peoples' perceptions of the role of kink in relation to these mental health challenges
- to measure future intentions to disclose kink involvement to healthcare providers
The current proposed study will also address asexual people who engage in kink/BDSM behaviors (bondage, sadomasochism, and power exchange). The 2016 Kink Health Survey included this sexual orientation group, and we will continue to address this group.
The study design is an observational, longitudinal study with data collected online via a computer-assisted survey. Subjects will be recruited through non-probability snowball sampling. Interested individuals will initially be screened for inclusion criteria. All completed questionnaires will be reviewed to ascertain whether inclusion criteria are met or exclusion criteria are met. Those who meet the inclusion criteria will be sent a message asking them to read and sign the Informed Consent form if they wish to enroll in the study. Those who meet the exclusion criteria or who do not complete an Informed Consent form after 3 contacts will have their information on the screening questionnaire in Ripple de-identified. In order to characterize the prescreening sample for reporting purposes, the de-identified data will be retained and may be analyzed. If they provide their consent, prospective participants will be considered enrolled in the study and will be sent email invitations to fill out survey instrument 1, and then every week sent an email to fill out survey instrument 2, and so on, as appropriate.
IKHS Survey Instrument 1:
Demographics Kink Behaviors Kink Fantasies Kink/Sexual Desire
IKHS Survey Instrument 2:
Future Disclosure COVID
IKHS Survey Instrument 3:
Kink Injury
IKHS Survey Instrument 4:
Physical Health
IKHS Survey Instrument 5:
Mental Health
IKHS Survey Instrument 6:
Healthcare Utilization
IKHS Survey Instrument 7:
Sex Work Consent Violations Kink and Past Trauma Stigma Family Support Sexual Shame and Pride Scale
IKHS Survey Instrument 8:
Adverse Childhood Events / Sensation-Seeking Alcohol / Drug
Study design
- Observational model
- Cohort
- Time perspective
- Prospective
- Number of arms
- 1
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 Cohort | – | –1. Successful completion of screening checklist to indicate one of the following conditions: 1. recurring, long-standing fantasies that focus on kink, in areas such as: power exchange (Dominant/submissive roles), bondage, sadomasochism, or fetish activities. By fetish, we mean a type of sexual desire in which gratification depends on or is significantly increased by particular objects, clothing items, parts of the body, or types of persons. 2. OR currently engaging, or have engaged in the past, in consensual kink activities such as power exchange (Dominant/submissive roles), bondage, sadomasochism, or fetish activities. 2. Age of majority in the legal jurisdiction (geographic location) where the survey is taken (usually age 18) 3. English-language proficiency sufficient to understand the study instruments 4. Completion of an electronically signed and dated informed consent form |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
- Study population
- People involved in kink activities: power exchange (Dominant/submissive roles), bondage, sadomasochism, or fetish activities.
Key inclusion criteria (6 listed)
- Successful completion of screening checklist to indicate one of the following conditions:
- Age of majority in the legal jurisdiction (geographic location) where the survey is taken (usually age 18)
- English-language proficiency sufficient to understand the study instruments
- Completion of an electronically signed and dated informed consent form
Key exclusion criteria (4 listed)
- People who respond "no" to the following question on the screening checklist
- I am familiar with the importance of consent and I endorse negotiation and safe words or safe signals in my sexual or kink play
- Clearly fraudulent use of the internet survey, such as: evidence of non-human data entry via an internet "bot", duplicative or prank data entry that entails contradictory or clearly fraudulent data.
- Any condition that, in the professional judgement of the Principal Investigator, should exclude an individual from participation in the study.
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Primary outcome
Kink Injury
Time frame: Year 1
self-report of injury or medical complication while engaged in kink activities; type of injury; frequency of injury
Healthcare Utilization
Time frame: Year 1
self-report of: types of care; frequency of care; patient satisfaction; experiences of discrimination in healthcare interactions
Health Disparities
Time frame: Year 1
self-report of: mental health issues; suicidality; obesity; sexually transmitted infections; blood-borne pathogens; alcohol/drug use
3 secondary outcomes
Community Belongingness
Time frame: Year 1
Centrality of Kink Identity
Time frame: Year 1
Concealment / Disclosure of Kink Involvement
Time frame: Year 1
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 24 Feb 2025.
- Background: PubMed 34481743Sprott RA, Randall A, Smith K, Woo L. Rates of Injury and Healthcare Utilization for Kink-Identified Patients. J Sex Med. 2021 Oct;18(10):1721-1734. doi: 10.1016/j.jsxm.2021.08.001. Epub 2021 Sep 2.
- Background: PubMed 28340946Waldura JF, Arora I, Randall AM, Farala JP, Sprott RA. Fifty Shades of Stigma: Exploring the Health Care Experiences of Kink-Oriented Patients. J Sex Med. 2016 Dec;13(12):1918-1929. doi: 10.1016/j.jsxm.2016.09.019. Epub 2016 Oct 27.
- Study WebsiteLink provided by the sponsor.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Richard A Sprott, PhD principal investigator
The Alternative Sexualities Health Research Alliance
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
An observational study of Wounds and Injuries and Mental Health, run by The Alternative Sexualities Health Research Alliance at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 6 inclusion and 4 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 24 Feb 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Kink Injury (time frame: Year 1). The study lists 3 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT05318053, which also lists 2 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 24 Feb 2025.