| Abstract [eng] |
Research problem. From 2020 working in the field of social work with people with intellectual disabilities, quite quickly and repeatedly, I have faced the challenges of the sexuality of clients, but it was difficult to find an answer – there is a lack of methodological materials, not enough sharing of good experiences among other social workers. Expressing sexuality, creating friendships, getting information about sexuality – is a need and right of all of us. Additionally, sexuality is an important part of a person's quality of life. Nevertheless, people with intellectual disabilities face challenges in this area, such as lack of sexuality education, restrictions on sexual expression, lack of privacy, etc. These field specialists of social work are specialists with the sexuality of adults with intellectual disabilities and it depends to a large extent on these workers how it is solved, especially in the absence of methodological information on this taboo topic. Object of the study is the challenging sexual behavior of adults with intellectual disabilities. Purpose of the study is to reveal the experience of a social field specialist, working with adult persons with disabilities in challenging sexual behavior: with what kind of challenging sexual behavior they face; what feelings accompany clients’ sexuality topic; where one is looking for help and how challenging behavior gets solved. The research used qualitative research - semi-structured individual interviews and focus groups; researcher's self-reflection. Research findings: 1. Masturbation was one of the most frequently mentioned examples of challenging sexual behavior. Most surprisingly – clients' need to create a romantic relationship – made this need be identified as challenging sexual behavior. It is one of the fundamental human needs – to be connected, to feel important and loved, but within the framework of this work, this clients’ need have been repeatedly treated as a problem for social workers. 2. Many social wokers feel especially lonely when faced with clients' challenging sexual behavior, because this topic is difficult to communicate among colleagues, it is not discussed in supervisions. 3. Social workers’ greatest need for help is practical knowledge and psychological support. 4. Public masturbation and undressing in public are examples of successfully addressed challenging sexual behavior. Some challenging sexual behavior is more difficult to solve due to the severity of the client's disability or lack of sexuality education; or when the client's disability is milder but the challenging sexual behavior is very multifaceted, such as a return to an abusive relationship. |
