SALUDIVERSEX: A quality of life and sexual health intervention for adults with mild intellectual disabilities

J Intellect Disabil. 2023 Aug 16:17446295231196258. doi: 10.1177/17446295231196258. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

Individuals with intellectual disabilities need an affective and sexual education adapted to their characteristics. There are few interventions that meet these objectives and offer empirical evidence of their efficacy. To respond to the limitations of existing interventions, an evidence-based affective-sexual educational intervention for adults with a mild degree of intellectual disability is proposed: SALUDIVERSEX. Participants will be randomly assigned to an intervention group that will receive the SALUDIVERSEX program or to a waiting list group. The intervention will be implemented by educators of occupational centers after a thorough training phase. Our main hypothesis is that the SALUDIVERSEX program will improve the sexual health and quality of life, through the joint action built into three components: the acquisition of basic information, the development of skills and strategies and the achievement of healthy attitudes towards the experience and expression of sexuality. The results of this approach could have important implications for optimizing the quality of life and self-determination of individuals with Intellectual disability by contributing to the development of healthy sexuality.

Keywords: Spain; intellectual disability; quality of life; sexual health; sexuality.