Margaret Wazakili Doctoral student University of the Western Cape Physiotherapy department

Sexuality and Sexual Health Needs of Young People with Physical Disabilities Role of Parents and Schools

Overview Introduction Objectives/context Research design/setting Study sample/ethical issues Data collection/analysis Findings/limitations Recommendations/acknowledgements

Introduction Physical disability is defined as limitation in movements e.g. CP, SB, PPP, stroke and so on. Sexuality central aspect of being human (Izgubara, 2004), yet fraught with taboos Disability misperceptions & sexuality taboos are mutually reinforcing Meeting sexual health needs is key to controlling STIs & HIV/AIDS Parents & schools have a key role to play in provision of sexuality & sexual health education

Objectives To explore disabled young peoples needs for sexuality and sexual health promotion To describe the role played by parents and schools in providing sexuality & sexual health education To recommend appropriate intervention strategies for disabled young people

Context Nyanga Township is one of the biggest and oldest in the Western Cape Predominantly inhabited by Xhosa speaking people Characterised by poverty, crime and high unemployment rates No known studies on sexuality & sexual health promotion needs of disabled young people

Research design/setting Qualitative research paradigm used because of need for holistic description of the phenomenon UWC Community Rehab Project used as entry point into the community An intermediary (disabled himself) assisted in identifying participants (DPSA)

Study sample/ethical issues Purposeful sampling & voluntary participation of ten year old disabled young people & ten parents was sought Confidentiality and anonymity ensured Consent forms signed after aim of the study was explained Pseudonyms used - to protect identity

Data collection Individual in-depth interviews conducted more than once. Four FGD of 4-10 members each conducted Interviews & FGD were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim Intermediary translated interviews from English to Xhosa and Xhosa to English

Data analysis Textual features of Atlas.ti used to organise raw data, create codes & write memos Contextual features used to analysis data through interrelating codes & concepts to form theoretical networks around common themes (Muhr, 2006)

Findings Sexuality and sexual health ed. needs are not met Cultural beliefs prohibit parents from talking about sexuality with their children Parents concerned with prevention of pregnancy & not STIs or HIV/AIDS Special schools promoted total abstinence and forced contraception for girls Disabled young people felt marginalised & excluded from sexuality talks at mainstream schools

Limitations of the study Not being able to speak Xhosa was a barrier to in-depth interviews Due to high crime rates, intermediary advised against visiting some parts of Nyanga Therefore, not all physically disabled young people could be reached

Recommendations Health promoting schools need to be sensitive to sexuality and sexual health ed. needs of disabled young people Parents need to be assisted to overcome cultural barriers – to take an active role in providing sexuality education Strengthen collaboration between schools and parents to improve flow of information

Acknowledgements I would like to extend my gratitude to the UWC/VLIR programme for sponsoring my studies and attendance at this conference. I extend my thanks to profs R. Mpofu and P. Devlieger, my supervisors