Employment Sustainability for People with Intellectual Disability: A Systematic Review.

Only ten studies were included, and they came from seven countries, so the evidence base is small and cannot support firm practice recommendations. The studies defined sustainability differently, with timespans from one month to eight years, so their results cannot be compared directly. Most studies did not explicitly define employment sustainability. The included studies used different disability terms and groups, such as intellectual disability, intellectual and developmental disabilities, autism with intellectual disability, and special education needs, so it is unclear whether they studied the same population. The review excluded intervention studies, so it cannot show that any workplace support causes better job retention. No societal barriers were reported, so labour-market and welfare-system factors remain unexplained. Only English-language publications were included, so relevant research in other languages may be missing. The authors say their own prior knowledge shaped the search terms, which may have introduced bias.

The supplied publication types indicate non-U.S. government research support, but the article text provided does not include an author conflicts-of-interest declaration.

Do not treat the listed facilitators as proven causes of job retention. The studies used different definitions and timeframes, and the review could not compare them.