Disability and Sexuality: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Level of Comfort Among Certified Rehabilitation Counselors

Abstract

This study investigated certified rehabilitation counselors’ (CRCs) attitudes, knowledge, and comfort in addressing disability and sexuality issues. One hundred ninety-nine CRCs completed a modified version of the Knowledge, Comfort, Approach and Attitudes toward Sexuality Scale to determine the effect of knowledge and attitudes on level of comfort in addressing sexuality issues with consumers. Counseling and education-type comfort and comfort with sexual solicitations or discovering consumers in sexual situations (approach) were assessed separately. Participants demonstrated low discomfort on the education and counseling-related comfort scale ( M = 1.84, SD = .82) and medium discomfort on the approach-related comfort scale ( M = 2.78, SD = .96), positive attitudes ( M = 1.53, SD = .74), and average knowledge ( M = 2.40, SD = .842). Results of regression analyses indicated that 17% ( R 2 = .172) of the variance on comfort and 19% ( R2 = .189) of the variance on approach could be accounted for by CRCs’ knowledge and attitude, indicating that these were contributing to CRC comfort levels in addressing sexuality with consumers. Implications include the need for continued research concerning factors affecting CRC comfort in addressing sexuality-related issues with consumers, and the need for increased CRC education and training in sexuality and disability.