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Marriage Challenges of Women with Intellectual Disability in Iran: A Qualitative Study

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Abstract

Sexual desire is a natural and important human need, and, as part of human diversity, people with intellectual disability (PWID) have the right to have sex, marry and bear children. However, due to the dependence of PWID on their caregivers, their sexuality is influenced by the opinions of their caregivers. This qualitative study was conducted with the aim of discovering opinions of caregivers about the sexual needs and the issue of marriage in women with intellectual disability (WWID). Sampling was conducted in three intellectual disability care centers, two rehabilitation centers and a school of exceptional students in Tehran, Iran. Deep and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 intellectual disability caregivers. Data was analyzed using the content analysis method of Zhang and Wildemuth. Data analysis led to the emergence of two main themes and four categories. The first theme was “non-responsive sexual consciousness” with two categories: “positive thinking about the sexual needs of WWID” and “cultural weakness in accepting satisfaction of sexual needs in WWID”; and the second theme was, “the colorless dream of marriage”, with the categories of “wedding dress, dream of WWID” and “marriage of WWID, a challenging issue”. In spite of the desire of WWID for marriage, this issue is controversial from the viewpoint of caregivers. This difference in opinion is due to the lack of knowledge of caregivers about the abilities of PWID, insufficient information of WWID regarding marriage, lack of government support for facilitating the conditions of marriage of PWID and lack of social support in this area.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all the caregivers and mothers who participated in this study as well as the Welfare Organization of the province of Tehran for cooperating with me.

Funding

This study was funded by Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Reproductive Health and Midwifery Department, Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Ziba Taghizadeh

  2. Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Life Style Institute, Faculty of Nursing, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Abbas Ebadi

  3. Reproductive Health and Midwifery Department, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Maryam Farmahini Farahani

  4. Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran Medical Science, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

    Maryam Farmahini Farahani

Authors
  1. Ziba Taghizadeh
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  2. Abbas Ebadi
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  3. Maryam Farmahini Farahani
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maryam Farmahini Farahani.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests.

Ethical Approval

This article was extracted from the doctoral thesis of reproductive health of Tehran University of Medical Sciences and the ethical confirmation for this study was obtained from the Ethical Committee of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (IRI.TUMS.VCR.REC 1397.340). Also, to collect data and gain access to intellectual disabled care and rehabilitation centers, a license from the Welfare Organization of Tehran province was given.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants for taking part in this study and tape-recording the interviews.

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Taghizadeh, Z., Ebadi, A. & Farmahini Farahani, M. Marriage Challenges of Women with Intellectual Disability in Iran: A Qualitative Study. Sex Disabil 38, 31–39 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-019-09615-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-019-09615-1

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