Sexuality and Disability

, Volume 26, Issue 2, pp 75–81 | Cite as

Caregiver Perception of Sexual Behaviors of Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities

Original Paper
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Abstract

Sexuality defines how we interact with others, what relationships we develop, how we love and show affection, and how we feel about our bodies. Individuals afflicted with intellectual disabilities often lack skills to make sensible decisions regarding their safety and well being. Caregivers are in the position to provide social skills and experiences needed to develop exploration of sexuality and awareness of self protection skills. The purpose of this descriptive survey study was to determine the perception of caregivers toward the sexuality of individuals with intellectual disabilities. The Perception of Sexuality scale was used to measure caregiver attitude toward sexual behaviors of individuals with intellectual disability. The survey format was sent to 160 caregivers and yielded responses from 87 participants. Inferential statistics was used to determine basic characteristics of the responses.

Keywords

Caregiver Perception Sexuality Individuals with intellectual disabilities Individuals with Intellectual disorders Intellectually disabled 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.School of NursingUniversity of Alaska AnchorageAnchorageUSA
  2. 2.Hope Community ResourcesAnchorageUSA
  3. 3.AnchorageUSA
  4. 4.Walden UniversityMinneapolisUSA

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