Caregiver awareness of reproductive health issues for women with intellectual disabilities

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Limited attention has been paid to the issue of reproductive health as it affects women with intellectual disabilities, despite reproductive health being a vital issue in public health policy for women in the general population. This paper describes caregiver awareness of reproductive health issues relative to women with intellectual disabilities who are being cared for in welfare institutions in Taiwan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study employed a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study which recruited 1,152 caregivers (response rate = 71.87%) from 32 registered disability welfare institutions in Taiwan. We classified their understanding/awareness of reproductive health issues into four domains: menstrual (1) and menopause (2) issues, sex education (3), and reproductive health services (4). Each domain had five associated yes/no questions and the total score for the four domains was out of a maximum of 20. Data were analyzed using SPSS 15.0 software.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that most of the caregivers were familiar with matters concerning sex education, menopause, and reproductive health services, but they lacked adequate understanding of issues associated with menstruation in women with ID. Many aspects of reproductive health such as "menstrual pain", "age at menarche", "masturbation", "diet during perimenopause", and "publicly available reproductive health services" were issues in which caregivers lacked adequate knowledge and required further instruction. Logistic regression analysis revealed that female caregivers with a university degree, and those who had experience assisting with reproductive health care were more inclined to have higher reproductive health awareness scores than their counterparts.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study highlights that service providers should offer appropriate reproductive health education to institutional caregivers, and that more attention be focused on the personal experiences and concerns of intellectually disabled women in future research.</p

‘Love makes me feel good inside and my heart is fixed’: What adults with intellectual disabilities have to say about love and relationships

Background: Adults with intellectual disabilities have historically been hindered, rather than supported, in their desire to form loving relationships. This paper sought to explore with them what kinds of support they wanted in the 21st Century.Method: Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 40 adults with intellectual disabilities in the UK.Results: Participants placed a high value on having a partner and being supported to maintain and develop a loving relationship. The factors which constrained them in achieving this included a lack of social opportunities, barriers created by social care services and limits on them exercising autonomy. Facilitating factors included access to specialist dating agencies, strong family and staff support and opportunities to learn about relationships.Conclusions: The importance of a loving relationship as a source of pleasure and meaning in the lives of adults with intellectual disabilities who are often disadvantaged in many other spheres of life is emphasised

The Sexual Development and Education of Preschool Children: Knowledge and Opinions from Doctors and Nurses

This descriptive study was carried out in order to determine the knowledge levels and attitudes of doctors and nurses regarding children’s sexual development and sex education. The study was conducted with doctors and nurses who work at various clinics of two state hospitals located in the province of Istanbul. The data collection tool consisted of 58 questions. The Statistical Program for the Social Sciences, version 18.0 (SPSS 18.0) was used for data analysis. It was determined that females comprised the majority of the respondents (61 %) and were over 36 years of age (54.1 %) (37.81 ± 8.82). Of the participants in the study, 63.5 % had bachelor’s degrees and 62.1 % were medical doctors. It was determined that the number of correct responses given by the respondents regarding some behaviors observed in children aged between 3 and 6 years and children’s sexual development and sex education showed significant differences according to age group (p = 0.007), marital status (p = 0.004), the status of having children (p = 0.004), educational status (p = 0.005) and occupation (p = 0.000). However, in a review of the study findings, it was observed that culture had an important impact on sex-related approaches and that embarrassment and shyness is very common

Mapping French People’s Views Regarding Sexual Assistance to People with Physical Disabilities

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