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Query: UMLS:C0025362 (mental retardation)
 15,878 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Evidence suggests that handicapped children are at increased risk for abuse and neglect. Communicatively impaired youngsters are particularly vulnerable because of their limited ability to report the maltreatment. Of 482 abused handicapped children evaluated at Boys Town National Research Hospital, 212 had hearing impairment, 87 speech language disorders, 39 learning disorders, 43 behavioral-emotional disturbances, 74 mental retardation, 5 visual impairment, 3 cleft lip or palate, and 19 other disorders. The perpetrator was either a relative or a "trusted other" in 97.2% of sexual abuse cases. Handicapped males were much more likely to be victims of sexual abuse than nonhandicapped males in the general population. Children being educated in residential schools were more likely to be sexually abused than mainstreamed youngsters. These children may be at risk for abuse from a wide variety of potential perpetrators, including teachers, dormitory counselors, van drivers, clergy, classroom aides, older students, peer siblings, scout leaders, abused peers, baby-sitters, and custodians.
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PMID:Patterns of physical and sexual abuse of communicatively handicapped children. 200 16

There is growing recognition that children, adolescents, and adults who are mentally retarded are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation and are in need of intervention services. These people are especially vulnerable due to ther often life-long dependence on caregivers, relatively powerless position in society, emotional and social insecurities, and lack of education regarding sexuality and sexual abuse. In addition the mental health functioning and emotional development of individuals who are mentally retarded are not well understood, and many professionals remain uneducated about their mental health needs. To work effectively with this population, mental health professionals and educators must be alert to what is known about the sexual abuse and exploitation of persons with mental retardation. Furthermore, they need to become educated about the rights of these persons to special legal protection from abuse and neglect and to appropriate and effective mental health interventions. The challenge for mental health professionals and educators is to protect persons who are mentally retarded from sexual abuse and exploitation, to provide appropriate psychotherapeutic interventions when abuse occurs, to respect their right to developmentally appropriate knowledge about sexuality and sexual abuse, and to allow for the fulfillment of their sexuality.
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PMID:Sexual abuse and exploitation of children and adults with mental retardation and other handicaps. 220 99

The extent to which three professional groups (law enforcement officers, licensing personnel, and sex educators/counselors) utilize legally relevant criteria when assessing the sexual abuse of an adult with mental retardation was examined. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions that varied in terms of the ability of a woman with mental retardation to understand concepts involving the nature and consequences and right of volition in a sexual relationship. The results indicated significant effects for both treatment condition and group. Thus, more explicit, standardized criteria should be developed for professionals to utilize when assessing consent involving possible sexual abuse of adults with mental retardation.
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PMID:The law hath not been dead: protecting adults with mental retardation from sexual abuse and violation of their sexual freedom. 756 49

Thirty-one individuals awaiting trial or sentencing for murder or undergoing an appeal process requested a neurologic examination through legal counsel. We attempted in each instance to obtain EEG, MRI or CT, and neuropsychological testing. Neurologic examination revealed evidence of "frontal" dysfunction in 20 (64.5%). There were symptoms or some other evidence of temporal lobe abnormality in nine (29%). We made a specific neurologic diagnosis in 20 individuals (64.5%), including borderline or full mental retardation (9) and cerebral palsy (2), among others. Neuropsychological testing revealed abnormalities in all subjects tested. There were EEG abnormalities in eight of the 20 subjects tested, consisting mainly of bilateral sharp waves with slowing. There were MRI or CT abnormalities in nine of the 19 subjects tested, consisting primarily of atrophy and white matter changes. Psychiatric diagnoses included paranoid schizophrenia (8), dissociative disorder (4), and depression (9). Virtually all subjects had paranoid ideas and misunderstood social situations. There was a documented history of profound, protracted physical abuse in 26 (83.8%) and of sexual abuse in 10 (32.3%). It is likely that prolonged, severe physical abuse, paranoia, and neurologic brain dysfunction interact to form the matrix of violent behavior.
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PMID:Neurologic abnormalities in murderers. 896 Jul 68

This study examined the effect of mental retardation and an adolescent girl's behavior on adult women's perceptions of sexual abuse and the girl's responsibility. Subjects were 288 women, age 18 to 33, who were randomly assigned a vignette describing a sexual encounter between an adolescent girl and boy. Girl's diagnosis (mentally retarded or nonretarded), boy's diagnosis (mentally retarded or nonretarded) and girl's behavior (encouraging, passive, or resisting) were experimentally manipulated. Factor analysis of responses yielded three factors: girl's responsibility, boy's abusiveness, and parents' responsibility. Results indicate that subjects perceive the girl's responsibility differently among girls with and without mental retardation. Regardless of her behavior, subjects perceive the girl as bearing little responsibility when she is retarded. However, when she is nonretarded, she bears more responsibility when she is encouraging than when she is passive or resisting, and she bears greater responsibility when she is passive than when she is resisting. Also, when the girl is encouraging, the boy's perceived sexual abusiveness is less when he is mentally retarded than when he is nonretarded. Finally, parents are assigned greatest responsibility when the girl is passive, regardless of her diagnosis.
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PMID:Mental retardation and adult women's perceptions of adolescent sexual abuse. 780 88

Eighty-eight parents of adolescents or adults with mental retardation answered written and/or telephone questionnaires concerning sterilization and reproductive health choices for their children with mental retardation. The 36 parents whose children were still living at home were more concerned about the capacity for sexual activity in their disabled child than were the 52 parents whose children were living outside the home. Otherwise, the two groups of parents were very similar in their attitudes. The reasons for considering sterilization were parental fear of sexual abuse, unwanted pregnancy and failure of birth control methods. Almost all the parents in this study wanted to participate in decisions concerning the sterilization of their disabled child.
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PMID:Family views on sterilization for their mentally retarded children. 780 83

The new challenges in supporting people with mental retardation in the community, the nature and extent of the problem of sexual abuse in programs serving this population, and the differing judicial approaches taken to assessing their ability to consent to sexual relations were discussed. Potential sources of provider liability for harm caused to program participants were explained, and recommendations to improve practices were offered.
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PMID:Sexuality and mental retardation: unmet challenges. 796 58

Little research or attention has been focused on identifying sexual problems or difficulties that people with mental retardation commonly experience. Scale development represents an important area for study to help identify these problems and to evaluate treatment outcome. To address this need, the Psychopathology Instrument for Mentally Retarded Adults-Sexuality Scale (PIMRA-S) was designed to assess psychosexual disorders in mild and moderate mentally retarded persons. Eighty-six mild and moderately mentally retarded adults, ages 20 to 60, were studied using the PIMRA-S. Scale development of this type was considered important because little has been done to assess sexual problems among mentally retarded persons. Fifty-eight items were developed based on evaluations of the research literature and interviews of experienced professionals. A preliminary assessment of reliability was conducted. The psychometric characteristics of these preliminary analyses were favorable. In addition, information was reported on the rate of sexually aberrant behavior exhibited by people identified with mild and moderate mental retardation. Differences in the rate of sexually aberrant behavior were addressed as a function of living and work placement, positive history of sexual abuse, need for treatment of sexual problems, and psychiatric diagnosis. Implications of these results for further scale development are discussed.
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PMID:Development of the psychopathology instrument for Mentally Retarded Adults-Sexuality Scale (PIMRA-S). 799 37

Over a 5-year period, of the 461 cases of sexual abuse of adults with mental retardation, 37% were confirmed by the Abuse Investigation Division of the Connecticut Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities. As expected, most of the victims were women (72%); their average age at the time of the incident was 30 years. Victims, for the most part, had no problems communicating verbally and had few, if any, secondary disabilities. As is the case in the general population, the majority of the perpetrators were men (88%) and included other adults with mental retardation, paid staff, family members, and others. Most sexual abuse occurred in the victim's residence, and in 92% of the cases the victim knew his or her abuser. Results were discussed and several concerns raised.
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PMID:Sexual abuse of adults with mental retardation: who and where. 808 68

A socialization and sexuality counseling program was instituted as an integral part of a gynecologic service begun at the University of Michigan for persons with mental retardation. One hundred three patients were seen between 1986 and 1989 for counseling. Patients were referred for a variety of reasons, the most common being sexual behavior deemed inappropriate by the referring agent (i.e., direct care givers, parents, teachers, workshop supervisors, and other community professionals). Other concerns included sexual abuse, sterilization requests, sexuality and socialization education, marital questions, pregnancy assistance, abortion counseling, and family stress. Treatment techniques included gynecologic examination and follow-up, psychosexual education, psychiatric evaluation and follow-up, and group and individual psychosexual counseling. A majority of the patients improved during treatment. It is proposed that such a counseling program can play a useful role in the preparation of people with mental retardation to live in their communities as they deal with day-to-day decision making and should be an integral part of reproductive health care for this population.
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PMID:Integration of a sexuality counseling service into a reproductive health program for persons with mental retardation. 906 31


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