Evaluating WhatsOK Helpline for Youth With Concerns About Sexual Thoughts and Behaviors

April 7, 2026 updated by: Center for Violence Prevention Research Inc

A Randomized Control Trial Evaluation of WhatsOK for the Primary Prevention of Problematic Sexual Behaviors Among Youth

Research suggests up to 77% of harmful sexual experiences during childhood are caused by other youth. Sometimes called peer-peer abuse or youth-perpetrated child sexual abuse, problematic and harmful sexual behavior among youth (PHSBY) involves sexual behaviors that are not developmentally appropriate and have potential to cause harm to the child or children involved.

Compared to adults, children and adolescents who engage in sexual exploration are at greater risk of making mistakes or causing harm, in large part because they have insufficient information about healthy sexual behavior and development, consent, and related concepts. However, the available support, information, and resources for youth who have engaged in or are at risk of engaging in PSHB are limited.

To address these unmet needs, Stop it Now! (stopitnow.org) created the first youth-focused website and helpline services (WhatsOK) for young people with concerns about their sexual thoughts, interests, and behaviors. WhatsOK.org is a microsite developed specifically for youth aged 14-21 years. If a child or young person has concerns about their sexual thoughts or behaviors, the WhatsOK Online Help Center and Helpline can provide support and resources to support healthy behavior and prevent problematic or harmful behavior. If someone has already engaged in PHSBY or if they are unsure about whether what has been done is illegal, they can still reach out for confidential help to learn about taking steps to stop.

Preliminary findings from a longitudinal, observational study of the WhatsOK helpline suggest that youth are willing to seek out help for their (and others') sexual interests and behaviors, highlighting the critical need for prevention strategies targeting youth with potentially concerning sexual behaviors. We examined the characteristics of contacts to the WhatsOK helpline via data collected from pre-set questions on age, primary reason for contact, timing of inquiry relative to other help-seeking, and timing relative to harm caused. Most inquiries came from youth aged 14 to 21 (57.7%) via email (54.4%). Over half (54.6%) had already engaged in harmful or illegal behaviors or were potentially at risk to do so. The majority of contacts sought help prior to seeking out other external professional resources (54%).

The current study is a randomized control trial evaluating the impact of the WhatsOK helpline in reducing PHSBY and improving help-seeking attitudes and behavior in a sample of participants ages 14-17 with concerns about their sexual thoughts and behaviors.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

920

Phase

  • 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 Backup

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

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • must be ages 14-17 years at baseline
  • must have concerns about their sexual thoughts or behaviors
  • must be able to read, write, and speak in English

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Under 14 or over 17 years of age
  • Does not have concerns about their sexual thoughts or behaviors
  • Previously contacted a helpline or hotline for concerns about their sexual thoughts or behaviors
  • Is not able to read, write, or speak in English
  • Does not consent to participate

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: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Helpline condition
Participants will be directed to the WhatsOK helpline
Behavioral: Contact helpline
Participants will be directed to contact the WhatsOK helpline, where they can confidentially discuss their concerns about sexual thoughts or behaviors with a trained counselor
No Intervention: Control condition
Participants will complete all follow-up surveys but not be directed to the helpline

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Help-seeking behaviors
Time Frame: Participants' behaviors will be measured at baseline, t2 (baseline + 3 days), T3 (baseline + 14 days), T4 (baseline + 45 days), and T5 (baseline + 90 days)

Investigators will measure whether participants have sought support (beyond their assigned treatment condition) for concerns about their sexual thoughts and behaviors.

Help-seeking behaviors will be measured using two items. 1.) [In the past time], have you tried to find information related to concerns about your sexual thoughts, feelings, or behaviors? and 2.) [In the past time], have you reached out for support about concerns related to your sexual thoughts, feelings, or behaviors?

Response options are binary "yes/no". Participants can also select "prefer not to answer".
Participants' behaviors will be measured at baseline, t2 (baseline + 3 days), T3 (baseline + 14 days), T4 (baseline + 45 days), and T5 (baseline + 90 days)
Sexual behaviors
Time Frame: Participants' behaviors will be measured at baseline, t2 (baseline + 3 days), T3 (baseline + 14 days), T4 (baseline + 45 days), and T5 (baseline + 90 days)
Investigators will measure a variety of sexual behaviors, such as engaging in sexual contact with someone who does not consent (e.g, Have you ever made someone do sexual things when they didn't want to?); engaging in sexual contact with a young child; viewing or sharing sexual images of/with someone who does not consent; viewing, sharing, or creating sexual images of someone under the age of 18. Researcher created measure.
Participants' behaviors will be measured at baseline, t2 (baseline + 3 days), T3 (baseline + 14 days), T4 (baseline + 45 days), and T5 (baseline + 90 days)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Safety Planning
Time Frame: Participants' mental health will be measured at baseline, t2 (baseline + 3 days), T3 (baseline + 14 days), T4 (baseline + 45 days), and T5 (baseline + 90 days)
Participants will be asked two questions about safety planning behaviors that ask if participants have ever thought about specific ways or taken specific steps to make sure they don't engage in sexual behaviors that are illegal or could harm someone else. Participants are asked to choose the statement that best describes them. Options include: "yes, I have thought of specific ways/taken specific steps to avoid these behaviors", "no -I know I won't engage in these behaviors", "no - I need more information to come up with specific ways" or "no - I have ideas but haven't been able to put them into action yet", "no - avoiding these behaviors is not a priority for me". "something else" and "prefer not to answer".
Participants' mental health will be measured at baseline, t2 (baseline + 3 days), T3 (baseline + 14 days), T4 (baseline + 45 days), and T5 (baseline + 90 days)
Well-being
Time Frame: Participants' mental health will be measured at baseline, t2 (baseline + 3 days), T3 (baseline + 14 days), T4 (baseline + 45 days), and T5 (baseline + 90 days)
Well-being will be assessed using the 7-item Students' Life Satisfaction Scale. A 7-point Likert scale (from very strongly disagree to very strongly agree) will be used to measure participants' responses. Participants are also able to select "prefer not to answer".
Participants' mental health will be measured at baseline, t2 (baseline + 3 days), T3 (baseline + 14 days), T4 (baseline + 45 days), and T5 (baseline + 90 days)
Internal shame
Time Frame: Participants' behaviors will be measured at baseline, t2 (baseline + 3 days), T3 (baseline + 14 days), T4 (baseline + 45 days), and T5 (baseline + 90 days)
Investigators will measure internal shame using the 4-item Internal Shame Subscale of the External and Internal Shame Scale. Responses are measures using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from "very strongly disagree" to "very strongly agree". Participants can also select "prefer not to answer".
Participants' behaviors will be measured at baseline, t2 (baseline + 3 days), T3 (baseline + 14 days), T4 (baseline + 45 days), and T5 (baseline + 90 days)
Perceived resources
Time Frame: Participants' behaviors will be measured at baseline, t2 (baseline + 3 days), T3 (baseline + 14 days), T4 (baseline + 45 days), and T5 (baseline + 90 days)
Investigators will measure participants perceptions of resources in their lives for concerns about sexual thoughts and behaviors through a 4-item researcher-created scale (e.g., "There are safe resources available to help people my age with similar concerns about their sexual thoughts, feelings, or behaviors"). Responses are measured through a 7-point Likert scale that ranges from "very strongly disagree" to "very strongly agree". Participants are also able to select "prefer not to answer".
Participants' behaviors will be measured at baseline, t2 (baseline + 3 days), T3 (baseline + 14 days), T4 (baseline + 45 days), and T5 (baseline + 90 days)
Perceived self-efficacy
Time Frame: Participants' perceived self-efficacy will be measured at baseline, t2 (baseline + 3 days), T3 (baseline + 14 days), T4 (baseline + 45 days), and T5 (baseline + 90 days)
This is a researcher-created scale. This scale consists of 4 items to measure participants' perceived ability to avoid engaging in harmful or illegal behaviors (e.g., "If I have sexual thoughts that make me feel worried or concerned, I can take steps to address them."). Items are scored on a 7-point Likert Scale which ranges from "very strongly disagree" to "very strongly agree"). Participants are also able to select "prefer not to answer".
Participants' perceived self-efficacy will be measured at baseline, t2 (baseline + 3 days), T3 (baseline + 14 days), T4 (baseline + 45 days), and T5 (baseline + 90 days)

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Center for Violence Prevention Research Inc

Collaborators

University of California, Berkeley

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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 (Estimated)

April 6, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 29, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

September 29, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 19, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 7, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

April 13, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 7, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • CE-25-026
  • 1 U01CE003741-01-00 (Other Grant/Funding Number: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
  • 1U01CE003741-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

IPD Plan Description

Data sharing would require a data use agreement. Data will be collected on sensitive information (e.g., potentially harmful behaviors) and thus would not be appropriate to release without restrictions.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

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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