The Right to Sexuality, Reproductive Health, and Found a Family for People with Intellectual Disability: A Systematic Review

Patricia Pérez-Curiel; Eva Vicente; M Lucía Morán; Laura E Gómez

doi:10.3390/ijerph20021587

The Right to Sexuality, Reproductive Health, and Found a Family for People with Intellectual Disability: A Systematic Review

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 15;20(2):1587. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20021587.

Authors

Patricia Pérez-Curiel¹, Eva Vicente¹, M Lucía Morán², Laura E Gómez³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology and Sociology, University of Zaragoza, C./Pedro Cerbuna, 12, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain.
² Department of Education, University of Cantabria, Av./de los Castros, 52, 39005 Santander, Spain.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Oviedo, 33003 Oviedo, Spain.

Abstract

Although sexuality, reproductive health, and starting a family are human rights that should be guaranteed for all citizens, they are still taboo issues for people with intellectual disability (ID), and even more so for women with ID. This paper systematically reviews the current qualitative and quantitative evidence on the rights of people with ID in regard to Articles 23 (right to home and family) and 25 (health, specifically sexual and reproductive health) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). A systematic review of the current literature, following PRISMA 2020, was carried out in ERIC, PsychInfo, Scopus, PubMed, ProQuest, and Web of Science. In all, 151 articles were included for review. The studies were categorized into six themes: attitudes, intimate relationships, sexual and reproductive health, sexuality and sex education, pregnancy, and parenthood. There are still many barriers that prevent people with ID from fully exercising their right to sexuality, reproductive health, and parenthood, most notably communicative and attitudinal barriers. These findings underline the need to continue advancing the rights of people with ID, relying on Schalock and Verdurgo's eight-dimensional quality of life model as the ideal conceptual framework for translating such abstract concepts into practice and policy.

Keywords: Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD); fertility; intellectual disability; motherhood; parenthood; sex education; sexual health; sexual rights; sexuality.

Publication types

Systematic Review
Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Disabled Persons*
Female
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Humans
Intellectual Disability*
Pregnancy
Quality of Life
Reproductive Health
Sexual Behavior
Sexuality

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities and the Spanish State Research Agency (PID2019-105737RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033).