“Let’s talk about sex” – with intellectual disabled residents

Abstract

Background: Sexuality in people with intellectual disability is often far more taboo, as for example staff in residential homes does often not have sufficient training to adequately operate sex education. Method: Guideline-based interviews with five employees of residential homes for people with intellectual disabilities and four interviews with adolescent female residents were carried out and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Employees stated that they had no problem with sexual relations of the residents among themselves, they would have and show significant uncertainties if it comes to sexual violence. Employees described difficulties in the context of sexual-education. Answers to the questions on sexual-education among the residents showed that they were fearful and had unrealistic and wishful thinking about a romantic relationship. Conclusion: Concepts for employee-training should be developed and evaluated in order to allow the proper handling of the sexuality of residents and suitable sex and contraceptive education.