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Assessing the Sexual Attitudes of Midwifery Students and Their Opinions on Sexuality in People with Disabilities

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Abstract

The sexual attitudes of midwifery students, who play an important role in improving sexual health, can affect both the students themselves and people with disabilities to whom they provide education and counselling. We descriptively examined sexual attitudes and opinions regarding the sexual expression of people with disabilities in a sample of midwifery students at a state university in Turkey. All students studying midwifery at the participating university in the spring semester of the 2017–2018 academic year were eligible to participate, and 266 agreed to do so. The data were collected using a personal information form and the Brief Sexual Attitudes Scale (BSAS). When asked about the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs of people with disabilities, 87.6% of the respondents said people with disabilities had a need for SRH, 94.7% said they had sexual rights, 94.7% said they should be informed about family planning methods, 76.7% said it was fine for women with disabilities to become pregnant, 80.1% said women with disabilities could have a normal birth, and 92.5% said people with disabilities could be parents. The mean scores and standard deviations for the BSAS subscales were as follows: permissiveness: 4.40 ± 0.68; birth control: 3.85 ± 1.03; communion: 2.55 ± 1.05; instrumentality: 3.60 ± 0.98. Based on these results, we recommend that the midwifery curriculum be revised to ensure that students gain greater sensitivity to and learn more about the SRH needs of people with disabilities and how to meet their sex-related needs.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks all the students who agreed to participate in the study.

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  1. Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Health Sciences, Sivas Cumhuriyet University, 58140, Sivas, Turkey

    Ozlem Duran Aksoy

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  1. Ozlem Duran Aksoy
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Correspondence to Ozlem Duran Aksoy.

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Duran Aksoy, O. Assessing the Sexual Attitudes of Midwifery Students and Their Opinions on Sexuality in People with Disabilities. Sex Disabil 38, 329–342 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-020-09623-6

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