Communication about sexuality for adolescents with cerebral palsy and complex communication needs: A scoping review with framework synthesis.
Megan Walsh, Susan M Sawyer, Joanne M Watson and 5 others
PMID 40931485WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescents with cerebral palsy who speak discuss sexuality with parents and peers, but those with complex communication needs are rarely asked directly.
Support staff and parents report conversations focus on abuse prevention and personal care, missing broader topics like dating or consent.
Key findings
01Adolescents with CP who speak report discussing topics like dating, marriage, and becoming a parent, whereas adolescents with complex communication needs have no reported communication about these topics.
02For adolescents with complex communication needs, communication about sexuality often revolves around abuse prevention, personal care, and managing sexual behaviour, rather than positive aspects of sexuality.
03Research on this population relies heavily on proxy reports from parents and carers because adolescents with complex communication needs are not directly involved in data collection.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The review is based on only 16 primary papers, with small sample sizes in many studies. Data for adolescents with complex communication needs were entirely proxy-reported, so the adolescents' own perspectives are missing. Grey literature was excluded, which may have missed emerging or negative findings. Terminology for 'complex communication needs' was inconsistent across the included studies, making data extraction difficult.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The work was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that the lack of reported positive sexuality discussions for adolescents with complex communication needs means they do not have these needs or desires. The review found this absence is largely due to a lack of direct research participation and a focus on risk management by carers, not an absence of interest or capacity in the adolescents themselves.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →