Affectivity and Sexuality in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder from the Perspective of Education and Healthcare Professionals: A Qualitative Study

Jordi Torralbas-Ortega, Victoria Valls-Ibáñez, Judith Roca (), Meritxell Sastre-Rus, Carme Campoy-Guerrero (), Dolores Sala-Corbinos and María Sánchez-Fernández
Additional contact information
Jordi Torralbas-Ortega: Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Nursing Care Research Group, Sant Pau Biomedical Research Institute (IIB SANT PAU), 08041 Barcelona, Spain
Victoria Valls-Ibáñez: Health Center La Serra, Catalan Health Institute, 08208 Sabadell, Spain
Judith Roca: Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Lleida, 25198 Lleida, Spain
Meritxell Sastre-Rus: Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Nursing Care Research Group, Sant Pau Biomedical Research Institute (IIB SANT PAU), 08041 Barcelona, Spain
Carme Campoy-Guerrero: Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Lleida, 25198 Lleida, Spain
Dolores Sala-Corbinos: Child and Adolescent Day Hospital, Sant Joan de Déu-Terres de Lleida, 25001 Lleida, Spain
María Sánchez-Fernández: Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Lleida, 25198 Lleida, Spain

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 3, 1-12

Abstract: People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) present several different characteristics that predispose them to greater difficulties with intimate emotional and sexual relationships. This qualitative study uncovers the perspective of education and healthcare professionals on the affective and sexual needs of young people with ASD by analysing their narratives in semi-structured focus group sessions. Professionals highlight the inadequate training they receive in this aspect of health. They consider it should be commonplace for professionals working with autistic people as it would aid their collaborative efforts when treating children and adolescents with ASD. They show that, by working together with the families to establish joint objectives, these professionals can appropriately address sex and affective education, preventing risky behaviours among young people with ASD, and improving the interactions these individuals have with others. Sex and affective education is described as an indispensable tool at this stage of development and should be specially adapted for those with ASD.

Keywords: autism; autism spectrum disorder; sexuality; affectivity; healthcare professionals; education professionals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/2497/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/2497/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:3:p:2497-:d:1052044

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().