Sexuality and quality of life among people with physical disability

This study was designed to evaluate the association between the sexuality a nd quality of life of people with congenital physical disability. Sixty peo ple with congenital physical disability (33 males, 27 females, mean age = 2 8.64 years) who were living in the community participated in the study. Eac h respondent completed the Sexual Knowledge, Experience and Needs Scale whi ch assesses levels of knowledge, experience, feelings and needs in 12 diffe rent areas of sexuality Respondents also completed the Comprehensive Qualit y of life Scale which assesses both subjective and objective dimensions of quality of life in seven broad domains. Surprisingly, there were few associ ations between sexulity and the quality of life domains. The strongest asso ciations were between sexual intimacy and importance of quality of life. Th e implication of these findings for the lives of people with physical disab ilities are discussed.