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Sexuality is an aspect of health and development that is often overlooked among people with physical disabilities, particularly adolescents. Studies have demonstrated that youth with physical disabilities show considerably lower levels of sexual knowledge and receive inadequate sex education compared to their peers without such disabilities. The data for this paper are part of a qualitative study that explored the experiences, barriers and challenges associated with sex education for youth with physical disabilities from the perspectives of young people themselves, their parents and the health professionals who work with them. The findings from this study highlight the tendency for parents, educators and health professionals to place the responsibility of delivering sex education to young people with physical disabilities on someone else who they believe to be more appropriately qualified to handle these types of situations. As a result, the findings illustrate that adolescents with physical disabilities do not always receive the necessary combination of comprehensive sex education within school environments, specialized information from health professionals, and informal sex education from family and peers that they require in order to gain the knowledge and skills needed to understand their own sexual capabilities and make informed decisions about their sexual health and intimate relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A qualitative study was undertaken to explain findings of a cross-sectional study of Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) 4.1 data showing older persons who attend religious services more than once a week, compared to persons who do not attend at all, have lower prevalences of coronary heart disease (CHD), diabetes and high blood pressure. Twelve semi-structured interviews with ordained pastors and three focus groups with older parishioners from Canadian churches were conducted. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed for emergent themes through a process of direct content analysis. All participants claimed that religious service attendance (RSA): (1) enhances mental health; (2) provides social support and activities; and (3) promotes health and lifestyle behaviours that lower CHD risk. These three themes appear to be underlying mechanisms that help to explain the inverse association between RSA and the prevalence of adverse health outcomes found in the CCHS 4.1 data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]