Background: Female students with mild intellectual disability at special-needs high school and part-time high school are vulnerable to sex crimes. Nevertheless, their situation is not clarified well. How their teachers are involved in their problems remains unknown.
Objective: This study was designed to use a teacher's narrative viewpoint to elucidate the state of high-risk sexual behavior of female students with mild intellectual disability at special-needs high school and part-time high schools and to explore how teachers should care for and support such students.
Methods: Relevant data were obtained from a group interview and individual interviews of seven special-needs high school teachers and two part-time high school teachers. The interviewees responded to the following inquiries: “What are recognizable high-risk sexual behaviors of female students with mild intellectual disability?” “What are the backgrounds of female students' sexually high-risk behaviors?” and “How do teachers care for and support female students?” The responses were categorized.
Results: High-risk sexual behaviors of female students with mild intellectual disability were categorized from a teacher's narrative viewpoint into three categories: “money-related dating and labor and sex industry,” “improper sexual activity,” and “dangerous sexual behavior.” Several factors were related to female students and their background. The personal characteristics were of two categories: “intellectual delay” and “low self-esteem.” Their background comprised two categories: “complex home environment” and “impact of the information society.”
A teacher's care and support of female students included the following: “individual and polite education,” “sex education according to the current situation,” “education for independence,” and “cooperation.”
When providing support to female students, the troubles which teachers often experienced were the following: “difficulty of sex education,” “necessity of support and guidance after graduation,” and “difficulty of surrounding social systems.”
Conclusion: These results are expected to help prevent and support problem behaviors, giving advice from a professional viewpoint.
