Quantitative Analysis of Sexuality and Relationship Education in Inclusive Higher Education: Brief Report

ABSTRACT

Inclusive postsecondary education (IPSE) programs support adults with intellectual disabilities’ participation in higher education. Students in IPSE programs may have limited knowledge of sexuality, relationships, and social skills, which can be addressed through sexuality and relationship education (SRE). This project evaluated the effect of the Positive Choices© curriculum on the SRE knowledge of 7 students attending an IPSE program in the southeastern United States. Students attended 15 weekly classes taught by two graduate assistants and faculty supervisor during spring 2020; half of course meetings occurred in person and half via Zoom due to COVID-19 restrictions. The authors analyzed results of pre-post one sample t-test of student scores on five instructor-created assessments. All students showed statistically significant increases in knowledge for each assessment and overall. Future research should assess the effect of other curricula in use in IPSE programs and evaluate the need for and use of supplemental materials for instruction.

KEYWORDS:

• Inclusive higher education
• intellectual and developmental disabilities
• Positive Choices©
• quantitative methodology
• sexuality and relationship education

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.