Identifying the important factors associated with teaching sex education to people with intellectual disability: A cross-sectional survey among paid care staff

Schaafsma, Dilana; Kok, Gerjo; Stoffelen, J. M. T.; Doorn, Paulien van; Curfs, Leopold

doi:10.3109/13668250.2014.899566

Cited by 45 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In this context, Ang and Lee (2016) note that teachers' discomfort with teaching sexual content, or the feeling that sexual content is essentially "inappropriate" for special education students may be related to the degree of conservatism of the society, 458 which is consistent with the conclusion of Schaafsma et al (2014) on the impact of social norms when teaching sexual health education by caregivers.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 58%

Components Of Sexual Health Programs For Special Education Students And Pre-Service Teachers

Gerchenovitch¹,

Rusu²

2018

The European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences

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The present paper investigates the existing literature in order to identify potential components for the development of Sexual Health Programs (SHP) for Special Education (SE) students. Sexual Health Education programs (SHE programs) are considered a recognized and accepted practice in educational systems in Israel and around the world (Weisblay, 2010). The main purpose of SHE programs is to provide students with knowledge and the ability to defend themselves against sexual violence, sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies, as well as to offer information and knowledge of healthy, responsible sexual behaviours (Brosch, 2007; Washington State Department of Health, 2011;Winges-Yanez, 2014). SHE programs may be of particular importance to people with disabilities and to special education students. The reasons of this importance are presented in the present paper. The research questions of the current systematic review are: (1) Are there SHPs in the area of SE? (2) Among the general SHPs, which factors are significant to SE students and pre-service teachers, in terms of addressing sexuality to persons with special needs? The results of the systematic review (14 studies met the specific inclusion criteria) are presented in the light of designing SHPs for SE pre-service teachers. The review shows that in special education frameworks there is a real need and importance in programs for the study of sexual health education, both in the context of knowledge acquisition, insight and the formulation of values, and in the context of preventing exploitation and dangerous or inappropriate behaviours.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 58%

Components Of Sexual Health Programs For Special Education Students And Pre-Service Teachers

Gerchenovitch¹,

Rusu²

2018

The European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences

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“…Third, previous research has shown that support staff can feel inhibited in talking about this subject (Abbott & Howarth 2007;Richards et al 2009) and that family members and other support providers set different norms for themselves (or other people without disabilities) than for people with ID (Christian et al 2002;Yool et al 2003;Swango-Wilson 2008). The results of our study show that sexuality is being talked about, but it may well be that staff feels inhibited in making agreements about supporting the individual in this area or that differences in opinions and attitudes is reflected in the absence of specific support agreements (Christian et al 2002;Yool et al 2003;Swango-Wilson 2008;Schaafsma et al 2013Schaafsma et al , 2014Schaafsma et al , 2015. A lack of support agreements in the area of sexuality may result in people with ID not being able to exercise their sexual rights, to satisfy their needs or for them to feel less able to talk about it.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…; Swango‐Wilson ; Schaafsma et al . , , ). A lack of support agreements in the area of sexuality may result in people with ID not being able to exercise their sexual rights, to satisfy their needs or for them to feel less able to talk about it.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexuality and individual support plans for people with intellectual disabilities

Stoffelen

Herps

Buntinx

et al. 2017

J intellect Disabil Res

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Background Sexual rights and sexuality are important aspects of quality of life, also for people with intellectual disabilities (IDs). However, providing support in this area to people with ID poses some challenges. In this study, the content of individual support plan (ISP) documents was analysed to determine the extent to which sexuality and sexual rights are addressed in part of the ISP documents. Method Content analysis was carried out on a sample of 187 ISP documents from seven different service provider organisations in the Netherlands. First, we conducted a lexical search using terms related to sexuality and sexual health. The retrieved segments were then analysed. Results A total of 159 ISP documents (85%) of 60 men and 99 women contained some reference to aspects of sexuality. However, these references were mostly descriptive and offered little guidance in terms of providing support. Moreover, these notations mostly described negative or problematic aspects of sexuality. References to sexual education, treatment,

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“…The barriers we identified are consistent with a prior study of other medical professionals. That study cited time constraints, lack of appropriate training/skills/knowledge base, and the belief that patients were either not sexually active or not interested in sex education as barriers to providing sex education counseling to patients with ID (Schaafsma et al 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex Education and Intellectual Disability: Practices and Insight from Pediatric Genetic Counselors

Murphy

Lincoln

Meredith

et al. 2015

Journal of Genetic Counseling

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Intellectual disability (ID) with or without other anomalies is a common referral for genetic counseling. Sessions may include discussions of reproductive implications and other issues related to sex education. Patients with ID regularly meet barriers when trying to obtain sex education due to the misperceptions of others as being either asexual or that such education would promote inappropriate sexual behavior. In this pilot study, we surveyed genetic counselors to explore their experiences with being asked to provide sex education counseling and their comfort in doing so for patients with ID ages 9-17. Results were analyzed from 38 respondents. Caregivers and patients most frequently requested information on puberty, sex abuse prevention, and reproductive health. Genetic counselors were most comfortable when they could provide sex education counseling within the context of a particular condition or constellation of features. They were least comfortable when they lacked familiarity with the patient, caregiver, or the family's culture. The most frequently cited barriers that prevented genetic counselors from providing sex education counseling were lack of time, lack of training, the patient's ID being too profound, and a belief that genetic counselors should not be responsible for providing sex education counseling. While many respondents reported that providing sex education counseling is not considered within the scope of a genetic counselor's practice, they also noted that patients' families initiate discussions for which counselors should be prepared. Respondents indicated that resource guides specifically designed for use by genetic counselors would be beneficial to their practice. Genetic counselors have the opportunity to embrace the role of advocate and broach the issue of sexual health with caregivers and patients by directing them toward educational resources, if not providing sex education directly to effectively serve the needs of patients and caregivers.

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Identifying the important factors associated with teaching sex education to people with intellectual disability: A cross-sectional survey among paid care staff

Cited by 45 publications

References 24 publications

Components Of Sexual Health Programs For Special Education Students And Pre-Service Teachers

Components Of Sexual Health Programs For Special Education Students And Pre-Service Teachers

Sexuality and individual support plans for people with intellectual disabilities

Sex Education and Intellectual Disability: Practices and Insight from Pediatric Genetic Counselors

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