Practices to Promote Sex Education for Children and Adolescents with Intellectual Disability or Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

Sexuality is an essential aspect of the lives of individuals. However, children and adolescents diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder or intellectual disability have less knowledge about their own sexual health. Therefore, it is proposed to carry out a systematic review, using the PRISMA method, to investigate the evidence of interventions and/or evaluation studies conducted directly with children or adolescents with autism or intellectual disability or involving parents or health professionals or education who have frequent contact with young people from the defined population. Searches were carried out in seven databases, namely, SciELO, BVS, Periódicos Capes, Web of Science, PubMed, DOAJ, and PsycINFO. The descriptors used were (“intellectual disability” OR autism) AND (“sex education” OR “sexual prevention”) AND (promotion OR intervention); all terms were also searched in English. Of the 253 articles, 16 studies were selected after the application of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, through a blind evaluation carried out by 2 judges. The selected studies were shown to be effective in preventing sexual violence and raising awareness about the sexuality of these young people.