De eviga barnen?

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study was to get a better understanding of why professionals in social work or field work don’t work with questions regarding sexual health for people with an intellectual disability. We hope that this study could provide more knowledge on how professionals guide or don’t guide individuals with an intellectual disability in their sexual health and open up the discussion on the subject. This study was based on a qualitative method and was accomplished through nine semi-structured interviews with professionals working on different disability accommodations in Sweden. The analysis led to the conclusion that sexual health is a subject that needs to be addressed more openly and that the majority of professionals lack knowledge of the subject. The result showed that the professionals blamed the targeted group and expressed several times that they don’t have any sexual needs. A consistent pattern showed that the experienced limitations were connected to the client's age, disability, and the fact that they saw it as a sensitive topic to talk about. The lack of laws and policies to follow were also discussed and were viewed as limitations for the professionals. Education was discussed and the majority of the participants stated that they had never received any guidance or directive to rely on. Opportunities within the work were also discussed and addressed among the professionals. An open and supportive workplace was described as an opportunity in order to work successfully with questions regarding sexual health. Furthermore, a pattern showed that the staff that were educated on the topic were not afraid of talking about the subject with their clients. This study has shown that professionals need to be more educated in order to work properly with questions regarding sexual health. Lastly, legislation needs to be looked over and sexual health needs to be mentioned as an important part of their everyday life.