Attitudes Towards Sexuality in Males and Females with Intellectual Disabilities: Indonesia Setting

Abstract

Abstract:Introduction: sexual and reproductive rights in individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID), particularly in developing countries, are often neglected. Although affected individuals never complained, the problems were found augmented from the affected families. Over the last two decades, parents and professionals acknowledged sexual and reproductive right and try to accommodate these needs. Indonesia, a developing country with a strong religious and culture beliefs may has different perspectives on attitudes towards sexuality in individuals with ID which respect the sexual and reproductive right augmented from the affected family. The aimed of this study was to explore the attitudes towards sexuality on individuals with ID. The findings are expected to contribute to the movement in recognizing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in individuals with ID. Methods: thirty participants were included in this study consisted of supporting staffs of rehabilitation center for disabled individual, parents, religious leaders and community. Participants fulfilled the two sets of Attitude to Sexuality Questionnaires towards individuals with ID (ASQ-ID).Results: the attitudes towards sexuality in males were found similar with females with ID, age did not play a role in the attitude towards sexuality in ID. Indonesian attitudes towards sexuality in individuals with ID was found the most conservative compared to other countries with the mean of sexual right was 3.7±0.22, parenting was 3.5±0.30, nonreproductive sexual behavior was 3.4±0.49, and self-control was 3.4±0.73.Conclusion: the attitudes towards sexuality in individual with ID is somewhat negative, strong culture and religious beliefs /and values may have strong influence.

Attitudes Towards the Sexuality of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities: A Systematic Review

“…Another study reported this difference between the youngest (20-to 29-year-olds) and the 50 to 59-year-old group for sexual rights for women [27]. Other studies involving staff [26,29,30,50], students with support work experience [34], community [44], and mixed samples [47,53] did not find that relationship.…”

“…On the contrary, a study with staff and community samples found more negative attitudes in women populations, specifically in regard to sexual intercourse, parenting, marriage and petting; and men attitudes were more negative towards men kissing with a same-gender partner [51]. Finally, other studies did not find clear relationships between gender and attitudes in staff [26,27], community [39,44] or familystaff-community samples [46,47,53].…”

“…versus community samples [45][46][47][48], family versus staff samples [49] and staff versus community samples [50,51]. Two studies included different samples but did not separate groups for analysis [52,53]. In regard to methodology, the majority of the included studies were comprised of quantitative studies [21, 23-31, 34-48, 50, 51, 53].…”

“…Twelve studies used the ASQ-ID questionnaire. Three [34,38,46] used a preliminary version, proposed by Cuskelly and Bryde [46], while eight [27,29,35,44,47,48,50,53] used the final version proposed by Cuskelly and Gilmore [1]. One study [22] generated an easy-to-read adaptation for use in adults with ID.…”

“…Studies were carried out across different geographical regions. These included USA [21,29,31,35,51,52], Australia [27,38,46,50], United Kingdom [26,32,33,44], Ireland [30,41,49], Taiwan [22,48], France [36,42], Mexico [42,45], Greece [24,39], Poland [28,43], Italy [25], Portugal [37], Israel [40], Canada [34], Netherlands [23], Serbia [47], and Indonesia [53]. Geographic region, study aim, sample characteristics, data collection instruments, and main findings, are available in Table 2.…”