Abstract
This study surveys the perceptions of 23 service providing agencies on the sexual behaviors of persons with severe or profound mental retardation. A 17-item questionnaire was mailed to 200 service providing agencies in New York State requesting information about the masturbatory and mutual sex behavior patterns of persons in their care. A total of 34 responses were returned, and of these, there were 23 agencies that completed the survey as requested. Subsequently, data were collected on the masturbatory behaviors and mutal sex behaviors of 1,288 and 1,220 adults respectively. The results indicate that masturbation occurs within all 23 agencies and that orgasm problems can be found in 22 of them. Furthermore, masturbation was reported to occur at a mean range from 31.9% to 40.9%, and of those who do, close to one third experience orgasm difficulty. A total of 20 respondents indicated that voluntary sexual contacts occur between people and 12 of these 20 said that there are persons who engage in sexual intercourse. There were 19 respondents who suggested that between 7% and 12.8% of the individuals whom they supervise participate in some sort of mutual sexual contact. The author discusses these results and their implications in an attempt to better understand the role that sexuality plays in persons' lives.
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Kaeser, F. A survey of the perceptions of twenty-three service providing agencies on the sexual behaviors of Persons with severe or profound mental retardation. Sex Disabil 14, 309–320 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02590102
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02590102