Sexuality Interventions and Autism: A Systematic Review

Purpose of review: The purpose of this systematic review was to survey the content and structure of sexuality interventions for autistic people across the lifespan. Recent findings: Recent research has identified a lack of attention to autistic people’s needs when designing sexual ed interventions. Due to an increased acknowledgment of the substantial barriers to comprehensive sex education for autistic people, interventions have been implemented across settings, age groups, and methods, but there is little consistency surrounding what content should be included in these interventions. Summary: Through our systematic review, we identified 23 articles focused on sexuality and relationship interventions for autistic people. Analysis revealed coverage of a wide variety of topics in curricula, with education around consent and boundary setting or levels of intimacy/dating being the most frequently taught topics. Most interventions were implemented with autistic people, although some did focus on teaching skills to parents or caregivers, who can play an important role in education and skill development. Results provide an important foundation to understand content areas currently included in sex education interventions and identify areas that should receive more attention in future interventions developed for autistic people of all ages.