Evaluation of sexual lives and Respectful Relationships Program for LGBTIQA+ prople with intellectual disability
History
Pagination
1-39
Language
eng
Research statement
In their role of providing services that support and enable people with intellectual disability to live in an inclusive community, Inclusion Melbourne identified the need of LGBTQIA+ people with intellectual disability to have access to education and support with respect to the expression of their sexual identity and the pursuit of safe and fulfilling relationships.
The Sexual Lives and Respectful Relationships educational program (Frawley, Barrett & Dyson, 2012) was identified as a resource. It was designed to enable people with intellectual disability to acquire the knowledge and skills to pursue healthy, safe and respectful relationships through sexual lives of their choosing, and to have good reproductive and sexual health outcomes.
The informing model includes the engagement of people with an intellectual disability as peer educators and utilises experienced community professionals as co-facilitators of the program. The program makes use of the stories told by people with intellectual disability to enable discussion in a safe and respectful environment.
As the program had not previously been run specifically to address the needs of people with intellectual disability who identified as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, 4 additional narratives were curated for inclusion in the program, focusing on the life experiences of LGBTQIA+ adults with intellectual disability.
The evaluation was conducted collaboratively with Inclusion Melbourne as the host and Deakin University as the facilitator of the modified version of SL&RR. The University of Melbourne carried out the independent evaluation of the program, which took the form of gathering and analysing interview and focus group data from trainers, program participants and those involved in establishing the program, together with field notes from observations of the program implementation.