Sexual abuse prevention for individuals with mental retardation: considerations for genetic counselors.
It is now widely recognized that children, adolescents, and adults with mental retardation are especially vulnerable to sexual abuse. Because at least 10% of genetic conditions are reported to include mental retardation as a feature, the provision of services to individuals with mental retardation represents a substantial portion of the case load for many genetic counselors. Our objective is to educate genetic counselors and other health professionals about this vulnerable population in order to enhance the frequency and efficacy of inquiry into sexual education and sexual abuse prevention training for patients with mental retardation. The following review article is intended to assist genetic counselors by increasing their knowledge of factors that lead to sexual abuse and provides recommendations for integrating this information into the counseling interaction.
Levy
Helen
H
Genetics Department, Kaiser Permanente, San Francisco, California 94115, USA. helen.levy@kp.org
Packman
Wendy
W
D000293:Adolescent; D017028:Caregivers / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004495:Education of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities; D005260:Female; D005817:Genetic Counseling; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D019221:Mandatory Reporting; D012736:Sex Education; D014481:United States