THE SEXUAL KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE, FEELINGS AND NEEDS OF PEOPLE WITH MILD INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY

This study concerns an evaluation of the sexual knowledge, experience, feelings and needs of people with mild intellectual disability. Thirt y people (18 females, 12 males) with mild intellectual disability who were living in community houses and a contrast group of 50 first year psychology students (32 females, 18 males) agreed to participate. Para llel forms of the guided interview measure 'Sexual knowledge, experien ce and needs scale' were used to assess the sexuality of both groups. The results indicated that people with intellectual disability had low er levels of knowledge in all areas except menstruation and body part identification. They were also less experienced in the areas of intima cy and sexual intercourse, but had a higher experience of pregnancy, m asturbation and sexually transmitted diseases. There were no differenc es between the two groups in the experience of sexual abuse. There wer e generally more negative feelings in relation to sexual issues among people with intellectual disability. The implications of these finding s for sex education programs for people with intellectual disability a re discussed.