Otizm Spektrum Bozukluğu Olan Çocukların Cinsel Eğitimine İlişkin Annelerinin Görüş ve Deneyimleri

Abstract

İn this study, it was aimed to make an in-depth examine mother’s opinions and experiences on sexual education of children with autism spectrum disorder. Phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. The study group of the research consisted of 16 mothers with children autism spectrum disorder in Bingöl province. In the formation of the study group of the research, easily accessible sampling from purposive sampling methods was preferred. Researcher as a data collection tool in research, “Semi-structured Interview Form” and “Demographic Information Form” developed by the researcher and created in line with expert opinions were used. The questions in the participant interview form were prepared based on the literature review. Interviews were conducted with the mothers face-to-face by taking voice recordings, with the data collection tool created. The data collected from the interviews were analysed and interpreted by descriptive analysis method under 5 themes to reflect the views of the mothers. Some of the remarkable results of the analyses are as follows: Mother’s opinion and experiences; regarding sexual education have varied due to their different beliefs, culture, education, knowledge and experiences. Most of the mothers participating in the study associated sexual education with privacy. It was found that had not received any training on sexual education before and did not consider themselves sufficient in this regard. Despite this, almost all the mothers stated that they considered it is necessary and important to provide sexual education to their children with ASD. It was concluded that mothers thought that if their children were not given sexual education, they would be open to all kinds of dangers, especially sexually, they would face difficulties in their future lives, they would be alienated from themselves and society, they would not be safe, they would be misunderstood and they would not be able to protect their rights.