Validation of an instrument to evaluate the sexual behavior of persons with intelectual disability for parents (ECS-PA)

Abstract

The recent normalization of sexuality and sexual rights among people with Intellectual Disability (ID) has led to an increase in the number of initiatives aimed at improving their knowledge and skills through sexual-affective education programs, but these programs require evaluation instruments reliable to identify their needs and may be sensitive to change after the intervention. In this assessment their perceptions must converge, those of the professionals who deal with them and those of their parents to ensure the veracity of the information obtained, but unfortunately we lack valid and reliable psychometric instruments, both self-reported, because in many cases they lack of verbal skills sufficient to express their desires and experiences, as heteroinformed, since the existing ones are fundamentally focused on the study of attitudes towards sexuality of this group. The objective of this work has been to construct and validate a questionnaire to obtain information from parents about the sexuality of people with mild or moderate ID. The instrument consisting of 32 items with different response formats was administered to 118 parents of adults with ID. The Exploratory Factor Analysis and de Confirmatory Factor Analysis offers a structure composed by 3 factors: (F1) Comprehension of the privacy and social rules (13 items), (F2) perception of knowledge about sexuality that your child has (10 items) and (F3) concern for inappropriate sexual behavior (9 items). The model obtained with these four factors presents a good adjustment as shown by the main indicators (Chi2 S-B/df = 1.14, RMSEA = 0.035, CFI = 0.910 y TLI = 0.902). The ECS-PA is shown as an instrument that allows obtaining valid and reliable information about the sexuality of people with mild or moderate ID.

Keywords

• discapacidad intelectual
• sexualidad
• padres
• evaluación de necesidades