Preventing the onset of problem sexual behaviors among youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities

About This Grant

1 Problem sexual behaviors (PSB) by adolescents account for a significant proportion (50-70%) of harmful 2 sexual behavior experienced by children, as reported in national surveys. Many—perhaps most—sexual harm 3 incidents committed by teenagers can be characterized as "crimes of opportunity" or "crimes of ignorance." 4 Teens are at risk of engaging in PSB due to a lack of knowledge and clear guidance regarding appropriate and 5 inappropriate sexual behaviors, consent, and the developmental differences between teens and younger 6 children. School-based preventive interventions have been developed to address PSB; however, most, if not 7 all, of these interventions have been designed for and evaluated with general samples of adolescents, their 8 families, and educators. The proposed research aims to address the gap that exists for teens with intellectual 9 and/or developmental disabilities (IDD), as well as their families and educators, who have been largely 10 neglected in PSB prevention efforts. This gap represents a missed opportunity to prevent children from being 11 victimized by PSB and to interrupt a destructive cycle for teens at risk of engaging in PSB. The overarching 12 goals of the proposed study are to establish the acceptability, feasibility, and safety of a PSB prevention 13 curriculum and related study procedures for teens with IDD and to evaluate its efficacy in a waitlist randomized 14 controlled trial. Our team developed the Responsible Behavior with Youth and Children (RBYC) intervention as 15 a school-based program to prevent the onset of PSB among neurotypical teens. In collaboration with IDD 16 experts, we adapted RBYC for use with teens with mild to moderate IDD ages 14 to 19. Following principles of 17 community-based participatory research, we partnered with teens with IDD, their parents, and educators to 18 adapt the content and develop educational videos. RBYC-IDD is an 8-session curriculum designed to promote 19 safe and appropriate interactions between teens and younger children and peers, both in person and online. 20 Specifically, we aim to: (1) Ensure acceptability, feasibility, safety, and utility of a classroom-based universal 21 intervention and procedures to assess intervention effects on the prevention of PSB by teens with IDD; (2) to 22 evaluate the immediate effects (pre-post design) and sustained effects (3-month follow-up) of RBYC-IDD on 23 targeted constructs; and (3) to assess the differential impact of RBYC-IDD based on student characteristics 24 including sex, prior history of child maltreatment victimization, and student disability type and severity. To 25 complete study RCT we will recruit 12 special education schools in Maryland. Schools will be randomly 26 assigned to either the intervention group (6 schools) or the control group (6 schools). Participating students 27 (~150), their parents (~150), and teachers (~24) will complete assessment batteries at pre-intervention, post- 28 intervention, and at the three-month follow-up. We aim to establish an initial evidence base for RBYC-IDD. To 29 our knowledge, this will be the first school-based universal program designed to address the onset of PSB 30 among teens with IDD—a largely overlooked gap in PSB prevention.