Usability, Usefulness, and Desirability of Learning Activities for Sexual Health Education for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

Sexuality education (SE) for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities is needed, but is sparse. Seven individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and two educators participated in a mixed method participatory design to iteratively refine nine learning activities for SE. We analyzed usability, usefulness, and desirability of each activity. The utilization of multiple modalities, experiential learning opportunities, and inclusion of different perspectives yielded nine learning activities that were usable, useful, and desirable. This work resulted in learning activities to improve accessibility of SE for individuals with I/DD. Additional research is needed to evaluate activity effectiveness in improving knowledge.

Keywords:

• Intellectual and developmental disabilities
• sexual health
• education
• participatory design approach
• learning activities
• accessibility

Acknowledgments

ShopWorks Theater, a local theater company comprised of actors with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Richard Neff, Sarah Anderson and Eugene Scanlon.

We certify that all research conducted in this study was in accordance with the Ohio State University institutional review board’s approval.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no financial conflicts of interest to disclose. However, we acknowledge that this manuscript describes the UUD of activities that the first author developed and offers online at ekschmidt.com, though these resources are freely available.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded in part by the Nisonger Center Research Grant, Rosita Schiller Research Award, and the Alumni Grants for Graduate Research and Scholarship at the Ohio State University.