Social Acceptability of Menstrual-Care Training Methods for Young Women with Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

Acceptability of two different training methods for teaching menstrual-hygiene skills to young women with developmental disabilities was evaluated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, professional women in special education rated the acceptability of simulation training using a doll and simulation training on self. A 2 × 2 factorial design was used with level of learner disability (mild-moderate vs. severe) as the between-subjects factor and training method as the within-subjects factor. In Experiment 2, community evaluations of doll and self-training were assessed. A 2 × 2 factorial design was used with group of community women (university women students vs. local community women) as the between-subjects factor and training method as the within-subjects factor. Professional and community women differed in their ratings of acceptability with professional women preferring self-training and community women preferring training using a doll. Level of learner disability was not related to ratings of treatment acceptability. Overall, treatment efficacy seems to have been the dominant factor influencing professional women's views of treatment acceptability whereas community women appeared to give greater weight to intrusiveness variables. Taken together, these results suggest that opinions about treatment acceptability should be obtained from both professional and community groups. Implications for future research in treatment acceptability are discussed including issues regarding content validity and technology utilization.