Project Title

RESIDE - Relationships and Sexuality in Intellectual Disability Education

Research Focus

There are about 286,000 children and young people in the UK with a learning disability. Naturally these children want friendships, meaningful relationships and eventually some may want a romantic relationship. While there are existing relationship and sexuality education (RSE) programmes for typically developing children and young people no evidence-informed programmes exist for children and young people with learning disabilities. The aim of this study is to collaborate with children, parents, teachers and healthcare providers to identify what such a programme might look like.

For the final Report, Press Release and other documents, visit: It's My Life - Making It Our Reality

Funder & Dates

November 2021 – April 2023

Principal Investigator or Primary Supervisor

Professor Michael Brown

Co-Investigators or additional supervisors

Dr Mark Linden

Dr Lynne Marsh

Dr Maria Truesdale

Dr Fintan Sheerin

Research Fellow(s) or PhD Student

Dr Freda McCormick

Name & Institution of Collaborators

Glasgow University

Trinity College Dublin

Name of External Partner Organisations

Burdett Trust for Nursing

Description of Project:

Aim; Methods; Expected Outcomes

This study aims to identify RSE programme content for children and young people with learning disability. Adopting a qualitative approach, the study involves interviews and focus groups with children, parents, teachers and healthcare providers associated with special schools in Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales to identify best practice. The expected outcomes are the identification of Best Practice examples and guide for learning disability and other nurses for RSE programmes for children and young people with learning disability.

Links/URLs to external pages

Brown, M., McCann, E., Truesdale, M., Linden, M. & Marsh, L. (2020) The Design, Content and Delivery of Relationship and Sexuality Education Programmes for People with Intellectual Disabilities: A Systematic Review of the International Evidence. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17, 7568; doi:10.3390/ijerph17207568