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Abstract
The purpose of this survey study was to explore the views of young deaf and hearing people (16–25 years old) on school and home sex and relationships education (SRE). The study addressed a critical knowledge gap in the research literature on deaf youth's perception of SRE. The small-scale study explored young deaf people's experiences of SRE and the challenges they had faced when learning about sexuality and relationships. Recommendations on how to improve school SRE lessons were also obtained. Data were collected from 81 young people (n = 27 deaf, n = 54 hearing). Overall, deaf participants indicated greater levels of satisfaction with school SRE than hearing respondents. More deaf young people than young hearing people felt that the school had provided them with enough opportunities to learn about sexuality and relationships. The deaf group showed a preference for school SRE lessons to start at a later age than the hearing group. Mothers and friends were the two sources most frequently consulted in both groups. Teachers and school nurses were a third source frequently used by the deaf group. The views of deaf and hearing youth on their own SRE are important for the development, implementation and delivery of the school SRE curriculum. The study's findings can provide educators with valuable insight on the needs of a minority group who are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation and sexual misinformation due to their sensory loss and associated factors.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their gratitude to all the young people who have decided to share their views and experiences with us. They are also indebted to the Sex Education Forum for granting permission to replicate one section of their sex education survey. Furthermore, the authors would like to thank the National Deaf Children's Society, and the contacted Hearing Impaired services and Deaf Access teams in colleges that have provided support to this study. This work was supported by the Birkdale Trust for Hearing Impaired.
Notes
1. The term deaf is used throughout to describe any degree of permanent hearing impairment across the audiometric range of the mild to profound continuum.