M. Garwood et Mp. Mccabe, Impact of sex education programs on sexual knowledge and feelings of men with a mild intellectual disability, EDUC TRAIN, 35(3), 2000, pp. 269-283
Citations number
33
Categorie Soggetti
Rehabilitation
Journal title
EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN MENTAL RETARDATION AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES
This study is a qualitative study designed to examine effectiveness of two
sex education programs for increasing sexual knowledge and positive feeling
s of people with intellectual disability. Sexual knowledge, experiences and
feelings of six adolescent and adult men were assessed using the Sexuality
Knowledge, Experience, Feelings and Needs Scale for People with Intellectu
al Disability (Sex Ken-ID), pier to, and at the completion of sex education
. The sex education programs were relatively comprehensive, involving 6-10
sessions of sex education in a community health setting. The results of the
study demonstrated that there were minimal increases in the sexual knowled
ge of participants at the end of the programs. These changes were limited m
ainly to improvements in knowledge of friendship, contraception, pregnancy,
sexual interaction and social skills. Low levels of knowledge about mastur
bation and menstruation remained essentially unchanged. Participants had pa
rticular difficulty expressing their feelings about sexuality. After sex ed
ucation, more positive feelings were expressed in relation to female friend
ships and hugging someone of the opposite sex. However, the negative feelin
gs of some participants towards girlfriends, masturbation, oral-genital sex
and sexual intercourse remained. Following sex education, more negative fe
elings developed about marriage having children and being present during ch
ildbirth. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to t
he future design of sex education programs and the need for parental educat
ion regarding the sexuality of their children.