Impact on Psychological Well-being of Involvement in Kink BehaviorsNCT06969183
A Descriptive Exploration of Flourishing Through Kink
An observational study of Impact on Psychological Well-being of Involvement in Kink Behaviors, run by The Alternative Sexualities Health Research Alliance at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
The study examines the experiences of people who have engaged in alternative sexual behaviors, like kink or BDSM, and whether there have been any positive effects on well-being Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Impact on Psychological Well-being of Involvement in Kink Behaviors
- How many people
- 1,131 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 22 Apr 2024to 6 Oct 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
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Study population: People who have engaged in kink behaviors
Who may be able to join
- 1. Age of majority in the legal jurisdiction (geographic location) where the survey is taken (usually age 18) 2. Self-reported involvement in kink behaviors 3. self-reported English-language proficiency sufficient to understand the study instrument.
- 4. Answer correctly a series of questions to screen for bots and fraudulent responses
Who cannot join
- 1. Report no involvement in kink activities or behaviors 2. Answer incorrectly three or more questions for bot detection and fraudulent responses, 3+ out of 4 bot detection questions.
- 3. 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.
- 4. Any condition that, in the professional judgment 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 examines the experiences of people who have engaged in alternative sexual behaviors, like kink or BDSM, and whether there have been any positive effects on well-being
Read the detailed description
The study design is an observational, cross-sectional mixed methods study with data collected anonymously online via a computer-assisted survey through Qualtrics. Subjects will be recruited through nonprobability snowball sampling
- Keywords
- kink, BDSM, flourishing, trauma recovery
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Reports of Healing through Kink
Primary Outcome measure: the proportion of people who affirmatively answer "Have you ever experienced healing from trauma through kink?"
Measured: Baseline
Secondary outcomes (8)
Subgroups More Likely
Secondary Objective 1: demographic characteristics including gender identity, sexual orientation, yearly household income, yearly individual income, age, racial and ethnic identity, age of involvement in kink behavior and first awareness of kink fantasy/desire; aspects of kink identity
Measured: Baseline
Types of Trauma Involved
Secondary Objective 2: scores on the Life Events Checklist-5, comparing people who have experienced healing through kink to people who have not experienced healing through kink
Measured: Baseline
Attachment Differences
Secondary Objective 3: scores on the Adult Attachment Scale, comparing people who have experienced healing through kink to people who have not experienced healing through kink
Measured: Baseline
Healing and Flourishing
Secondary Objective 4: scores on the Diener Flourishing Scale, comparing people who have experienced healing through kink to people who have not experienced healing through kink
Measured: Baseline
Conditions for Healing through Kink
Secondary Objective 5: responses to questions about kink activities; descriptions of negotiation, aftercare, and debriefing in relation to kink scenes; engagement in professional therapy, comparing people who have experienced healing through kink to people who have not experienced healing through kink
Measured: Baseline
AEDP Features of Healing through Kink
Secondary Objective 6: study will create a measure of features of experience that align with Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy, including keyword analysis of write-in answers for healing experiences; coding variables into a fidelity index of the clinical features of AEDP to reduce measurement error in the constituent AEDP feature variables; correlational and predictive analyses between and among AEDP clinical features/strategies, kink activities, and healing/flourishing scale scores
Measured: Baseline
Level of current symptoms of Trauma
Secondary Objective 7: scores on the PTSD Checklist-5, comparing people who have experienced healing through kink to people who have not experienced healing through kink
Measured: Baseline
Flourishing
Secondary Objective 8: scores on the Flourishing Index, comparing people who have experienced healing through kink to people who have not experienced healing through kink
Measured: Baseline
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted13 May 2025
- Study start22 Apr 2024
- Primary completion6 Oct 2024
- Study completion6 Oct 2024
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Impact on Psychological Well-being of Involvement in Kink BehaviorsStudies 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
- Ecologic or community
- Time perspective
- Retrospective
- Enrolment
- 1,131 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
- NCT06969183
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- T2024-01
- Status last verified
- May 2025
- First submitted
- 21 Feb 2025
- Last updated
- 13 May 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No: anonymity in data collection, no individual participant data will be shared
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 13 May 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- A Descriptive Exploration of Flourishing Through Kink
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06969183
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- T2024-01
- Keywords
- kink, BDSM, flourishing, trauma recovery
- Study type
- Observational
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 1,131 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- The Alternative Sexualities Health Research AllianceUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 22 Apr 2024 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 6 Oct 2024 (actual)
- Study completion
- 6 Oct 2024 (actual)
- First posted
- 13 May 2025 (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 examines the experiences of people who have engaged in alternative sexual behaviors, like kink or BDSM, and whether there have been any positive effects on well-being
Detailed description
The study design is an observational, cross-sectional mixed methods study with data collected anonymously online via a computer-assisted survey through Qualtrics. Subjects will be recruited through nonprobability snowball sampling
Study design
- Observational model
- Ecologic or community
- Time perspective
- Retrospective
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
- Study population
- People who have engaged in kink behaviors
Key inclusion criteria (2 listed)
- 1. Age of majority in the legal jurisdiction (geographic location) where the survey is taken (usually age 18) 2. Self-reported involvement in kink behaviors 3. self-reported English-language proficiency sufficient to understand the study instrument.
- 4. Answer correctly a series of questions to screen for bots and fraudulent responses
Key exclusion criteria (3 listed)
- 1. Report no involvement in kink activities or behaviors 2. Answer incorrectly three or more questions for bot detection and fraudulent responses, 3+ out of 4 bot detection questions.
- 3. 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.
- 4. Any condition that, in the professional judgment 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
Reports of Healing through Kink
Time frame: Baseline
Primary Outcome measure: the proportion of people who affirmatively answer "Have you ever experienced healing from trauma through kink?"
8 secondary outcomes
Subgroups More Likely
Time frame: Baseline
Types of Trauma Involved
Time frame: Baseline
Attachment Differences
Time frame: Baseline
Healing and Flourishing
Time frame: Baseline
Conditions for Healing through Kink
Time frame: Baseline
AEDP Features of Healing through Kink
Time frame: Baseline
Level of current symptoms of Trauma
Time frame: Baseline
Flourishing
Time frame: Baseline
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 13 May 2025.
- Website of community based research organizationLink provided by the sponsor.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No. anonymity in data collection, no individual participant data will be shared
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 Impact on Psychological Well-being of Involvement in Kink Behaviors, 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 2 inclusion and 3 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 13 May 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?
Reports of Healing through Kink (time frame: Baseline). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
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 13 May 2025.