Attitudes and Engagement of Parents Regarding the Sexuality of Adolescents with Intellectual Disabilities

Cilj ovog rada bio je ispitati stavove roditelja adolescenata s IT prema seksualnoj edukaciji djece i mladih s IT te njihov angažman na području seksualne edukacije vlastite djece, kao i pitanja povezana sa seksualnošću njihova djeteta koja ih zabrinjavaju. Istraživanje je provedeno u Hrvatskoj, na uzorku roditelja adolescenata s IT čija djeca pohađaju Centar za odgoj i obrazovanje Zagreb, tijekom dvaju roditeljskih sastanka u ožujku 2020. Korišten je Upitnik o znanjima, mišljenjima, stavovima i brigama roditelja adolescenata s IT u odnosu prema seksualnosti njihove djece, konstruiran i prilagođen prema upitniku kreiranom za potrebe istraživanja - A Study on Sexuality with the Parents of Adolescents with Intellectual Disability (Isler, Beytut, Tas i Conk, 2009.b). Upitnik sadržava pet pitanja koja se tiču demografskih podataka i petnaest pitanja koja se tiču stavova prema seksualnoj edukaciji za djecu i mlade s IT, angažmana oko pružanja seksualne edukacije svojoj djeci, pitanja povezanih s djetetovom seksualnošću koja muče roditelje, educiranosti roditelja o temi seksualnosti, razgovora o seksualnosti s članovima obitelji kod djece ispitanih roditelja, odnosa roditelja i djeteta i seksualnog izražavanja djece ispitanih roditelja. Na temelju dobivenih podataka izračunati su osnovni statistički parametri i provedena deskriptivna analiza podataka za svaku varijablu. Rezultati su pokazali umjereno pozitivne stavove roditelja prema seksualnoj edukaciji za djecu i mlade s IT te relativno visok postotak (73,1%) roditelja koji prijavljuju vlastiti angažman oko pružanja seksualne edukacije svojoj djeci. Međutim, upitno je koliko je taj angažman zaista učestao i kvalitetan, budući da veći dio roditelja podučava svoju djecu samo o nekim temama povezanim sa seksualnošću izostavljajući osobnije i eksplicitnije teme. Također, generalno nedostatnoj kvaliteti seksualne edukacije kakvu pružaju ispitani roditelji doprinosi i česta pojava nekorištenja nekih od metoda pri educiranju, poput konkretnih materijala, manjak otvorene komunikacije o ovoj temi, kao i niska educiranost samih roditelja o temi seksualnosti. Dakle, premda su stavovi roditelja nešto pozitivniji nego što bi se očekivalo s obzirom na još uvijek prevladavajuću konzervativnost društva u kojem živimo, a visok postotak roditelja koji se na neki način uključuju pri educiranju svoje djece o temi seksualnosti također je pohvalan, i dalje ima još mnogo prostora za poboljšanje. Nužno je da stručnjaci učine sve kako bi educirali roditelje i potaknuli ih na uključivanje teme seksualnosti kao bitnog dijela odgoja svojih adolescenata.The aim of this study was to examine the attitudes of parents of adolescents with ID towards the sexuality education of children and young people with ID, their engagement towards giving the sexuality education to their own children and issues concerning the parents regarding the sexuality of their children. The research was conducted in Croatia on the sample of parents of adolescents with ID whose children attend Centar za odgoj i obrazovanje Zagreb (Center for Education Zagreb). It was conducted in March 2020. during two parent meetings. The questionnaire used in the study was originally designed for the following study: A Study on Sexuality with the Parents of Adolescents with Intellectual Disability (Isler, Beytut, Tas i Conk, 2009.b). It was adopted for the needs of the current study. Furthermore, it contains five questions about demographic data and fifteen questions regarding attitudes towards the sexuality education of children and young people with ID, enagament in giving the sexuality education to their children, concerns of parents regarding the sexuality of their child, parental knowledge about sexuality. Questionnaire also contains questions about the quality of relationship between parents and children, children’s conversations about sexuality with family members and children’s sexual expression. On the basis of obtained dana, basic statistical parameters were calculated and descriptive analysis was carried out. The results have shown that the attitudes of parents towards the sexuality education for children and young people with ID are moderately positive and relatively many (73,1%) parents engage in educating their children about sexuality. However, frequency and quality of those engagement is inquiring due to the fact that many parents teach only some topics linked to sexuality and omit those that are more intimate and explicit. Infrequent use of methods like showing some materials during educating children, loss of openness during such conversations and poor parental knowledge about sexuality issues also contribute to poor quality-sexuality education. In conclusion, although the attitudes of parents are somewhat more positive than would be expected due to still generally conservative society we live in and high percent of parents which engage in sexuality education of their children is praiseworthy, there is still lot of space for improvement. It is neccessary that professionals do all they can to educate parents and encourage them to include sexuality issue as crucial part of upbringing their adolescents