The CARAS Research Volunteers Project -

For Researchers

What is the CARAS Research Volunteers Project?

The CARAS Research Volunteers project is designed to help researchers in multiple disciplines to recruit subjects for research studies. Volunteers are adult Kink/Leather/BDSM/fetish/CNM people who have indicated interest in participating in research and completed an enrollment instrument including:

• Demographics

• Kink Experience and Interests (e.g., KOS, Wignall et al. 2025)

• Mental and Physical Health (e.g., PHQ-9; GAD-7; PCL-5; LEC-5; WHODAS 2)

The Volunteers project is IRB approved and GDPR compliant.

How does it work?

Researchers will submit an application and a copy of their IRB-approved protocol, informed consent document, and subject recruitment materials to the Volunteers project office. This information, particularly protocol inclusion/exclusion criteria, are used by Volunteers project staff to screen potential subjects in the Volunteers database. Matches are contacted by CARAS Research and information about the study will be provided to these individuals. Interested individuals will then contact the study team. Researchers do not have access to individual-level data but are kept informed at each stage of the process.

Timeline

Volunteer recruitment is on-going (2026) and CARAS Research will open the service to researchers in CY 2027. For additional information please contact the study team at research-volunteers [at] carasresearch.org .