Evaluation of Stepping Stones (StSt)

May 8, 2026 updated by: The Policy & Research Group

The goal of this randomized trial is to learn if the Stepping Stones (StSt) intervention has a positive impact on the sexual health and relationship behaviors of sexually active youth between the ages of 12 and 22 years old who are at risk for or involved in the legal or child welfare systems. The primary research questions it aims to answer are:

  • Three months after being offered the intervention, does StSt impact youth's receipt of sexually transmitted infection testing in the past four months?
  • Nine months after being offered the intervention, does StSt impact youth's frequency of having vaginal and anal sex without condoms in the past four months?
  • Nine months after being offered the intervention, does StSt impact youth's perpetration of emotional abuse in the past four months?

Researchers will compare participants randomized to receive StSt (treatment group) to participants randomized to receive a control condition that contains no sexual or reproductive health information (control group).

Participants randomized to the treatment group will be offered StSt as an in-person or virtual, individual-based intervention delivered over four sessions during a 6-8 week period. Participants randomized to the control group will be offered a virtually delivered control condition.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

This is an individual-level, randomized control trial to rigorously evaluate the impact of the Stepping Stones (StSt) intervention. Participant outcomes will be assessed using self-reported, individual-level data gathered using a structured questionnaire administered at three time points: baseline (enrollment); three months post-intervention (five months after baseline); and nine months post-intervention (eleven months after baseline).

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
650

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • At risk for or involved in the legal or child welfare systems
  • Report ever having vaginal and/or anal sex and plan to have sex in the next six months
  • Comfortable reading, speaking, and writing in English

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Currently trying to start a pregnancy
  • Currently in jail or being detained in a facility
  • Enrolled in an ongoing PRG-run TPP study, the No Baby No study, or the Yes & Know study
  • Living in regions where the FLASH curriculum is widely implemented (King County, WA, Ramsey County, MN, Hennepin County, MN)
  • Identified as fraudulent (only for individuals recruited online)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Stepping Stones
Behavioral: Stepping Stones (StSt)
StSt is an individual-level intervention designed to help youth make healthy decisions. StSt is delivered in-person or virtually by an adult guide during four ~30-50 minute sessions over a period of up to 8 weeks. The adult guide leads the youth through health-focused discussions related to identifying personal values, making a social network map, and then creating and refining individualized plans.
Sham Comparator: Like
Behavioral: Like
Like is an hour-long film that discusses the impact of social media on the brain. Study staff will organize for each individual participant to watch the film in-person. The film does not include information related to the outcomes of interest for the study.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Receipt of sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing in the past four months
Time Frame: Assessed three months after the intervention period has ended (five months post-baseline)

Participants are asked the following item:

1) Have you been tested for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the past 4 months? The resulting variable is dichotomous with values 0 or 1, where 0 indicates a person who has not received STI testing in the past four months and 1 indicates a person who has received STI testing in the past four months.
Assessed three months after the intervention period has ended (five months post-baseline)
Times having vaginal and anal sex without condoms in the past four months
Time Frame: Assessed nine months after the intervention period has ended (eleven months post-baseline)

Participants are asked the following two items:

  1. In the past 4 months, how many times have you had vaginal sex without you or your sexual partner using a condom?
  2. In the past 4 months, how many times have you had anal sex without you or your sexual partner using a condom? The resulting variable is continuous with values that range from 0 to k, where 0 indicates that a person has not engaged in vaginal and anal sex without a condom in the past four months, and k indicates the number of times the person has engaged in vaginal and anal sex without a condom in the past four months.
Assessed nine months after the intervention period has ended (eleven months post-baseline)
Perpetration of emotional abuse
Time Frame: Assessed nine months after the intervention period has ended (eleven months post-baseline)

Participants are asked how many times in the past four months they have done the following things to a sexual or romantic partner:

  1. Damaged something on purpose that belonged to them?
  2. Said things to hurt their feelings on purpose?
  3. Insulted them in front of others?
  4. Would not let them talk to or do things with other people?
  5. Threatened to start dating someone else?
  6. Did something just to make them jealous?
  7. Blamed them for bad things you did?
  8. Threatened to hurt them?
  9. Made them report where they were every minute of the day?
  10. Put down their looks?
  11. Threw something at them but missed?
  12. Told them they could not talk to someone else?
  13. Started to hit them but stopped?
  14. Brought up something from the past to hurt them? Participants are provided with four response options: 0 times; 1 to 3 times; 4 to 9 times; or 10 or more times.

The measure is calculated as the average response to all 14 items in the scale.
Assessed nine months after the intervention period has ended (eleven months post-baseline)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
The Policy & Research Group

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
Department of Health and Human Services
Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
Public Health - Seattle and King County
Reproductive Health National Training Center

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Sarah Walsh, Ph.D., The Policy & Research Group

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
September 16, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
March 1, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
September 14, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
August 23, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
August 23, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
August 27, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
May 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 8, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 1 TP2AH000093-01-00

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

A dataset will be prepared at the conclusion of the study, which includes deidentified individual-level data on all study participants who contributed self report data. Respondents will be represented only by a research ID number. Included in the dataset will be self-report data collected across all survey administrations (including demographic characteristics, sexual behaviors, and theoretical antecedents to those behaviors) and select information on program participation (e.g., which program components were completed). Basic data cleaning steps will be taken in order to ensure data are unidentifiable and to increase usability.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

The individual participant dataset will become available twelve months after the study has concluded.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • SAP

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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