PUBLIC HEALTH BRIEFS
A Pilot Sexuality Training Workshop For Staff at an Institution For the Mentally Retarded ROBERT R. WILSON, BA BRUCE A. BALDWIN, PHD With increasing deinstitutionalization and more mentally retarded persons retuming to community living, there is a correspondingly greater need for supervisory personnel and institutional staff members to become more informed about, more sensitive to, and better able to work with the sexual needs of this special population. It is imperative that such training begin within the institution where preparation for community living begins. Training programs are needed to help staff members learn to guide and reinforce residents for appropriate sex-related behaviors rather than emphasizing control, inhibition, or denial of the sexuality of the retarded.' 2 In an effort to develop an effective statewide training model, data collected from a pilot Sexuality Training Workshop for the staff at an institution for the mentally retarded in North Carolina was collected and assessed.
The Workshop Design The staff at a state institution responsible for the care of more than 1,600 mentally retarded residents expressed growing concern about the sexual development and the sexual behavior of the resident population in anticipation of increasing deinstitutionalization efforts. With administrative approval and state funding, consultants from the Carolina Population Center designed a nine-day Sexuality Training Workshop for staff members. This pilot training program was designed to be implemented in three 3-day modules over a five week period. The nine days of training contained four major sequential components: (1) building small group cohesiveness and a nonthreatening training atmosphere (1 day); (2) developing a base of information about human sexuality (21/2 days); (3) applying sexual knowledge to the special circumstances of the mentally retarded (3½ days); and (4) learning strategies for implementing positive changes at the institution (2 days). During the training, many different aspects of human sexMr. Wilson is Training Coordinator of the Mental Health Project, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina, and Dr. Baldwin is Assistant Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. Address reprint requests to Mr. Wilson at the Population Center. Funds for this research were provided by the Mental Retardation Project sponsored by the North Carolina Department of Human Resources. This paper was submitted to the Journal in April, 1975, and accepted for publication August 25, 1975.
AJPH January, 1976, Vol. 66, No. 1
uality were presented and a variety of learning techniques were integrated into the workshop format in complementary and mutually reinforcing ways. Two major questions were important in assessing the effects of this pilot training program: (1) Did staff members who selected themselves into the training program have more initial knowledge about and more tolerant attitudes toward human sexuality than those who elected not to participate?; and (2) Did changes in knowledge about human sexuality and in attitudes toward sex-related issues result from participation in the workshop?
Method In this study, a pretest-posttest comparison group de-
sign was used and all test materials were completed anonymously by subjects.
Subjects Thirty-two volunteers for the workshop were the experimental group and 32 selected staff members who did not volunteer to participate were assigned to a comparison group. The experimental group was significantly younger than the comparison group (p
A Pilot Sexuality Training Workshop For Staff at an Institution For the Mentally Retarded ROBERT R. WILSON, BA BRUCE A. BALDWIN, PHD With increasing deinstitutionalization and more mentally retarded persons retuming to community living, there is a correspondingly greater need for supervisory personnel and institutional staff members to become more informed about, more sensitive to, and better able to work with the sexual needs of this special population. It is imperative that such training begin within the institution where preparation for community living begins. Training programs are needed to help staff members learn to guide and reinforce residents for appropriate sex-related behaviors rather than emphasizing control, inhibition, or denial of the sexuality of the retarded.' 2 In an effort to develop an effective statewide training model, data collected from a pilot Sexuality Training Workshop for the staff at an institution for the mentally retarded in North Carolina was collected and assessed.
The Workshop Design The staff at a state institution responsible for the care of more than 1,600 mentally retarded residents expressed growing concern about the sexual development and the sexual behavior of the resident population in anticipation of increasing deinstitutionalization efforts. With administrative approval and state funding, consultants from the Carolina Population Center designed a nine-day Sexuality Training Workshop for staff members. This pilot training program was designed to be implemented in three 3-day modules over a five week period. The nine days of training contained four major sequential components: (1) building small group cohesiveness and a nonthreatening training atmosphere (1 day); (2) developing a base of information about human sexuality (21/2 days); (3) applying sexual knowledge to the special circumstances of the mentally retarded (3½ days); and (4) learning strategies for implementing positive changes at the institution (2 days). During the training, many different aspects of human sexMr. Wilson is Training Coordinator of the Mental Health Project, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina, and Dr. Baldwin is Assistant Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. Address reprint requests to Mr. Wilson at the Population Center. Funds for this research were provided by the Mental Retardation Project sponsored by the North Carolina Department of Human Resources. This paper was submitted to the Journal in April, 1975, and accepted for publication August 25, 1975.
AJPH January, 1976, Vol. 66, No. 1
uality were presented and a variety of learning techniques were integrated into the workshop format in complementary and mutually reinforcing ways. Two major questions were important in assessing the effects of this pilot training program: (1) Did staff members who selected themselves into the training program have more initial knowledge about and more tolerant attitudes toward human sexuality than those who elected not to participate?; and (2) Did changes in knowledge about human sexuality and in attitudes toward sex-related issues result from participation in the workshop?
Method In this study, a pretest-posttest comparison group de-
sign was used and all test materials were completed anonymously by subjects.
Subjects Thirty-two volunteers for the workshop were the experimental group and 32 selected staff members who did not volunteer to participate were assigned to a comparison group. The experimental group was significantly younger than the comparison group (p
