A sexuality education program with a newly developed curriculum was provided to 12 adults with developmental disabilities (DD) to examine whether their sexual awareness and knowledge could be increased, and their attitudes regarding sexuality could be changed. Using a pretest/posttest design, we demonstrated that knowledge increased and attitudes changed for the adults with DD. Benefits of the program and obstacles to its implementation were discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AmesT. R. (1991). Guidelines for providing sexuality-related services to severely and profoundly retarded individuals: The challenge for the nineteen nineties. Sexuality and Disability, 9, 113–122.
2.
AndersonR. C. (1993). The need to modify health education programs for the mentally retarded and developmentally disabled. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 5, 95–108.
3.
BlackburnM. (1995). Sexuality, disability and abuse: Advice for life…not just for kids: Annotation. Child Care, Health and Development, 21, 351–361.
4.
ColeS. S., & ColeT. M. (1993). Sexuality, disability, and reproductive issues through the lifespan. Sexuality and Disability, 11, 189–205.
5.
ChampagneM. P., & Walker-HirschL. W. (1982). Circles: a self organization system for teaching appropriate social/sexual behavior to mentally retarded/developmentally disabled persons. Sexuality and Disability, 5, 172–174.
6.
FoxxR. M., McMorrowM. J., StoreyK., & RogersB. M. (1984). Teaching social/sexual skills to mentally retarded adults. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 89, 9–15.
7.
HuntleyC. F., & BennerS. M. (1993). Reducing barriers to sex education for adults with mental retardation. Mental Retardation, 31, 215–220.
8.
JurkowskiE. (1994). “Lifelong journeys,” a family life and sexuality guide for people with developmental disabilities. International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 7, 203–207.
9.
LeeY. K., & TangC. S. (1998). Evaluation of a sexual abuse prevention program for female Chinese adolescents with mild mental retardation. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 103, 105–116.
10.
LundC. A. (1992). Long term treatment of sexual behavior problems in adolescent and adult developmentally disabled persons. Annals of Sex Research, 5, 5–31.
11.
McCabeM. P. (1993). Sex education programs for people with mental retardation. Mental Retardation, 31, 377–387.
12.
McCabeM. P., & CumminsR. A. (1996). The sexual knowledge, experience, feelings and needs of people with mild intellectual disability. Education and Training in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, 31, 13–21.
13.
McDermottS., MartinM., WeinrichM., & KellyM. (1999). Program evaluation of a sex education curriculum for women with mental retardation. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 20, 93–106.
14.
PendlerB., & HingsburgerD. (1991). Sexuality: Dealing with parents. Sexuality and Disability, 9, 123–130.
15.
RaggD. M., & RoweW. (1991). The effective use of group in sex education with people diagnosed as mildly developmentally disabled. Sexuality and Disability, 9, 337–352.
16.
ScottiJ. R., SpeaksL. V., MasiaC. L., BoggessJ. T., & DrabmanR. S. (1996). The education effects of providing AIDS-risk information to persons with developmental disabilities: An exploratory study. Education and Training in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, 31, 115–122.
17.
SundramC. J., & StavisP. F. (1994). Sexuality and mental retardation: Unmet challenges. Mental Retardation, 32, 255–264.
18.
WhitehouseM. A., & McCabeM. P. (1997). Sex education programs for people with intellectual disability: How effective are they?Education and Training in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, 32, 229–240.
19.
Zucker-WeissR. (1994). Sex, mental retardation and ethics. International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 7, 193–197.