Religious Approaches and Practices in Malaysia to Supplement Handling of Sexuality Issues of Adolescents with Autism

Abstract

Adolescents with autism (AWA) suffer limitations in communication, social interaction and behaviour as well as inability to manage their sexuality in a normal way. A more efficacious approach needs to be introduced to deal with their sexuality problems. Hence, the purpose of this research is to analyse a religious approach in dealing with sexuality of adolescents with autism. This research used interview method as the research instrument. Research data was obtained from interviewing 13 participants comprising of parents of AWA, teachers of AWA, and students of institutes of higher learning in Malaysia. Research analysis used NVivo software to thematically analyse the data obtained. In the religious approach, three methods were used in dealing with the sexuality issue of AWA, namely, performing congregational prayer and reading al-Quran, applying religious education from childhood and attending religious classes. The religious approach can help AWA to cope with their sexuality issue. The originality of this paper comes from the empirical studies to analyse a religious approach to deal with sexuality of AWA. Furthermore, this research is supported by literature review of publications in Arabic, English and Malay and sources from Islamic and conventional scholars.