The assessment of sexual knowledge in people with intellectual disability

The aims of this study were to evaluate components of a new tool, the Assessment of Sexual Knowledge (ASK), and to use it to assess the sexual knowledge of adults with intellectual disability. The ASK consists of a Knowledge Section, an Attitudes Section, a Quick Knowledge Quiz and a Problematic Socio-Sexual Behaviours Checklist. A sample of 96 adults with intellectual disability participated in the study. The Knowledge Section was administered twice (with a one to two week interval between testing) to examine its test-retest reliability. Inter-rater reliability was determined by having a second scorer for approximately a third of participants. The Quick Knowledge Quiz (QKQ) was also administered to examine its relationship with the Knowledge Section. The results of this study suggest that the ASK is a tool that is reliable across examiners and will also elicit responses that are stable over time. The relationship between the Knowledge Section and the QKQ indicated that the QKQ is a predictor of knowledge scores in the ASK. In terms of people with intellectual disability's knowledge, the results demonstrated their poor overall knowledge of sexuality, particularly in the areas of sexually transmitted infections, sexual health, safer sex practices, legal issues and contraception.