Evaluation of a Decision-Making Curriculum Designed to Empower Women With Mental Retardation to Resist Abuse

Khemka, Ishita; Hickson, Linda; Reynolds, Gillian

doi:10.1352/0895-8017(2005)110<193:eoadcd>2.0.co;2

Cited by 100 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…All programs addressed self-protection/self-advocacy at some level, but only 5 specifically covered protection against abuse. Khemka et al [2005] examined the effectiveness of a decision-making curriculum to empower women with ID to resist sexual abuse. Subjects were randomly assigned to intervention or control groups, and those receiving the curricula showed improvements in knowledge, decision making, and empowerment.…”

Section: Sexual Abusementioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual health care in persons with intellectual disabilities

Servais

2006

Ment. Retard. Dev. Disabil. Res. Rev.

144

121

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In the past, preventive health concerning sexuality of people with intellectual disabilities was addressed through surgical sterilization as part of nationwide eugenic programs in many countries. For more than 30 years now, it has come progressively to light in the scientific literature that, besides major ethical and legal problems, these programs also failed to assess many of the individual's needs in sexual health. The fact that an increasing number of people with intellectual disabilities live in the community rather than in institutions has heightened public awareness that these individuals have sexual expectancies, desires, and needs that must be supported through both education and health services. The emergence of AIDS, including descriptions of cases among people with intellectual disabilities, has further demonstrated that surgical sterilization cannot be considered a global option to achieve preventive sexual health. The aim of this paper is to review scientific studies that have assessed the expectancies and support needs of persons with intellectual disabilities in terms of sexual health. These needs vary widely from one individual to another, according to life milieu, level of disability, and potential comorbidity. From this review, it appears that hygiene management, global gynecological care, and prevention of unplanned pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and abuse have been frequently identified as areas in which the presence of intellectual disability dictates specific support needs. Different approaches that have been evaluated to address these issues will also be discussed. Key Words: sexuality; contraception; sterilization; sexually transmitted disease; hygiene management; pregnancy S exual health is influenced by a variety of political and social events and is broader than the absence of disease [Edwards and Coleman, 2004], encompassing both mental and physical aspects of human functioning that are important to overall well being [Sandfort and Ehrhardt, 2004]. The concept of sexual health in persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) is an extremely sensitive subject, and while advances have been made in employment, housing, and other aspects of community integration, the sexual needs of these individuals have been relatively ignored or strictly controlled by caregivers and service agencies [Bambara and Brantlinger, 2002; Hinsburger and Tough, 2002]. The importance of sexual health for people with ID has received increased attention in the past several decades and was recently highlighted by the 58th World Health Assembly (World Health Organization [(WHO)], which urged member states to include a disability component, including those with ID, in sexual health policies and programs [WHO, 2005a].Despite the heightened awareness of sexual health needs in this population, there has been a tendency to focus on issues of sexual rights and sexuality, and there is relatively less information on related factors such as preventive health. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS...

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Section: Sexual Abusementioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual health care in persons with intellectual disabilities

Servais

2006

Ment. Retard. Dev. Disabil. Res. Rev.

144

121

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“…Other studies [Doren et al, 1996;McCartney and Campbell, 1998] have examined individual and environmental predictors of maltreatment, thereby elucidating points at which interventions are most critical. Still others [Lumley et al, 1998;Miltenberger et al, 1999;Khemka and Hickson, 2000;Khemka et al, 2005] have focused on evaluating prevention efforts. In addition to research studies, a number of publications [Goldson, 1998;Waldman et al, 1999;Anonymous, 2001;Ryan et al, 2001] have continued efforts to raise awareness of the problem.…”

Section: Reflections and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence of maltreatment of people with intellectual disabilities: A review of recently published research

Horner‐Johnson

Drum

2006

Ment. Retard. Dev. Disabil. Res. Rev.

195

107

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Maltreatment can have a profound adverse effect on the health of individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID). People with ID may also be more likely to experience maltreatment than other groups. Historically, data on prevalence of maltreatment among people with ID have been sparse and methodologically weak but have suggested that the scope of the problem is considerable. Studies published between 1995 and 2005 were reviewed to determine estimated maltreatment prevalence among people with ID based on recent literature. Prevalence estimates for people with ID were compared to estimates for people with no disabilities and people with other types of disabilities. Only five studies provided maltreatment prevalence estimates for people with ID. The limited data suggest that maltreatment is more prevalent for people with ID than for people with no disabilities and may be higher for people with ID than for people with certain other disabilities. Most of the available research is still based on convenience samples. More population-level data are needed to provide reliable estimates of the prevalence of this important health problem. Key Words: maltreatment; prevalence; intellectual disability (mental retardation) M altreatment has been identified as a significant health issue for people with intellectual and other disabilities [Sobsey, 1994;Curry et al., 2001;USDHHS 2002]. Among the general population, exposure to maltreatment has been shown to produce a range of sequelae, including physical trauma, compromised psychological health, or death [Tjaden and Thoennes, 2000;Ireland, 2002]. In addition to these consequences, people with disabilities may develop secondary disabilities and/or suffer loss of independence [Mitchell and Buchele-Ash, 2000;Swedlund and Nosek, 2000]. For example, a person with an intellectual disability may develop emotional problems as a result of psychological maltreatment or develop a secondary mobility disability as a result of physical abuse.Unfortunately, while maltreatment in the general population has been recognized as a national priority with large-scale efforts to measure the prevalence of maltreatment and violence (e.g., National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS); National Violence Against Women Survey), little attention has been devoted to collecting comprehensive data on maltreatment of people with disabilities. Although the most recent report based on NCANDS data included disability as a demographic category, the data are acknowledged to be underestimates [USDHHS, 2005]. The data that are provided are for children with disabilities in general, with no information about specific types of disabilities.A number of authors [Jaudes and Diamond, 1985;Ammerman and Baladerian, 1993;Sobsey, 1994] have reported that individuals with disabilities are more likely to be maltreated than individuals without disabilities. Moreover, it has been asserted that individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) are at especially high risk [Levy and Packman, 2004]. One oft-cited study [Cross et a...

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“…[26] Females are at high risk of getting pregnant and both females and males are at high risk of sexually transmitted diseases (HIV, AIDS). [10,32,33] Thus, sexual education is an important determinant, positively affecting social and behavioral skills, [34][35][36] decision-making skills [37] and knowledge. [38,39] For these reasons, the education of parents with children with special needs is even more important than that of parents with children with normal development.…”

Section: The Importance Of Sexual Education In Preventing Sexual Abusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex Education and its Importance in Children with Intellectual Disabilities

Güven¹,

Dalgıç²

2015

Psi Hem Derg

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SUMMARYSexual identity is an individual being aware of his/her sexuality and acting in a manner appropriate to it. With or without intellectual disability, every individual is born with his/her gender. For centuries, it was thought that individuals with intellectual disabilities were inhuman, asexual, or childish, or that they were over fond of sex and that they could not control their sexuality. However, these individuals were perceived as such because they did not know where, when and in which situations sexual behaviors were appropriate. In other words, they could not control their sexual behaviors. Just like healthy individuals, those with intellectual disabilities also have sexual needs and desires. Sex education starts at birth. It continues until reaching adulthood or beyond. Parents are the best guides for all children, either those with intellectual disability or not. The most accurate information about sex, which is an issue when there are conflicting messages from different sources, should be first provided by parents.There is no suitable model of sex education for all children with intellectual disabilities and information should be appropriate to the child's level of understanding. Those with intellectual disabilities are more at risk of sexual abuse than others in society and for this reason, it is important to adopt a multidisciplinary team (doctor, nurse, midwife, psychologist and social services specialist e.g.) approach towards the sexual health of the intellectually disabled. The most accurate information sharing about sex depends on good communication between families, schools and individuals, and by receiving professional support when needed. This review emphasizes the importance of sexual education for children with intellectual disabilities and the role of nurses in sexual education. Keywords

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Evaluation of a Decision-Making Curriculum Designed to Empower Women With Mental Retardation to Resist Abuse

Cited by 100 publications

References 26 publications

Sexual health care in persons with intellectual disabilities

Sexual health care in persons with intellectual disabilities

Prevalence of maltreatment of people with intellectual disabilities: A review of recently published research

Sex Education and its Importance in Children with Intellectual Disabilities

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