From SALUDIVERSEX to SALUDIVERSEX-M. The adaptation of an affective sexual education program for people with moderate intellectual disabilities and/or reading and writing difficulties

Abstract

Affective sex education programs are a necessary resource to promote sexual health in people with intellectual disability because they have multiple barriers to acquire knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to live and express their sexuality in a positive and health way. Thus, the design of these interventions requires that the characteristics of the target group (degree of autonomy, level of understanding and / or level of writing and reading) be taken into account. Currently, we can find effective proposals for population with mild intellectual disability, such as the Saludiversex program. However, the interventions for people with moderate intellectual disability and/or literacy difficulties are still scarce. Therefore, our research group made a simplified version of the Saludiversex program (Saludiversex-M). Thus, the objective of this paper is to describe in detail the process of adapting the content and material of the Saludiversex Program to the simplified version Saludiversex-M. In relation to the adaptation of the content, the information reported by professionals who work with this group and the life characteristics of people with moderate intellectual disability (low autonomy, difficulties in romantic relationships, support needs in hygiene activities, etc.) were contemplated as a result, some concepts such as contraceptive methods, sexually transmitted infections and abuse are worked on more superficially. On the other hand, regarding the work material (presentations, evaluation questionnaires, activities, etc.) was adapted according to the easy reading guidelines and the level of understanding of this group (use of simple sentences, concrete language and support with images for the most difficult to understand concepts). The result is a resource that facilitates access to sex education for a group with great deficiencies in this area.