Sexuality and Disability: A group sexual education program aimed at parents of adult individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities
Researchers
Kaleigh Howard and Dr. Rachel Mann-Rosan
Institution
Skidmore College
Who can participate
Parents of adults (age 18 up) with a developmental or intellectual disability
Location
Remotely; see Description for link to participate
Description
Studies have shown that many individuals with I/DD are not receiving comprehensive sex education and face a lack of knowledge regarding sexuality, biology, relationships, sexual health, etc. (DiGiulio, 2003). Despite this, some studies have shown that parents of those with I/DD acknowledge the importance of sex education and want to be the primary sex educators for their children (Stein et al., 2018). Other studies have also shown that many of these parents do not know precisely how or when to discuss sex education with their children and how to do it in a manner they understand (Ballan, 2001; Barnard-Brak et al., 2014; Isler et al., 2009). Based upon these findings, the current study proposes to complete a sexual education program aimed at the parents of adult individuals with I/DD.
Kaleigh Howard, a senior psychology major and Professor Rachel Mann-Rosan, Ph.D from Skidmore College will be providing a training program for parents and subsequently a study. If you choose to participate, you will be placed into either a workshop where you will attend three Zoom meetings over the course of four weeks, or given educational materials to read independently over the course of four weeks. All the material discussed will pertain to disability and sexuality. In particular, the focus will be on how to effectively teach your adult child with an intellectual and/or developmental disability about sex and sexuality. Every participant in either program will have to fill out three surveys in total. By participating, you will get to learn tools and tips for communicating to your adult child with an intellectual and/or developmental disability about sexuality and sex. After the final survey is completed, you will also get a $10 gift card for returning the survey.
Possible group meeting times include:
- Saturdays (1/22, 1/29, 2/12) from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. EST
- Mondays (1/24, 1/31, 2/14) from 6:00-9:00 p.m. EST
- An additional time to be determined for the control group
Please fill out this form if you are interested in participating.
Contact
Kaleigh Howard, khoward1@skidmore.edu
Deadline
January 21, 2022
