Psychosocial interventions for older people with intellectual disabilities and the role of support staff: A systematic review.

The included studies were mostly small, short-term and heterogeneous, with many single-case or case-series designs, so they cannot establish whether an intervention works for a wider group. The review did not assess effectiveness thoroughly; it mapped what interventions had been tried and what roles support staff played. Only English peer-reviewed journal articles were included, and grey literature was excluded, which may miss relevant work and skew results toward published findings. Quality was often moderate or low: 4 studies were high quality, 24 moderate and 8 low. Many studies used observational outcomes and did not collect follow-up data or complete outcome data. Confidence in maintained change is therefore limited. The older people's own views were not a focus of most included studies, because outcomes were usually observed by staff or researchers. The role of support staff was not always described clearly, so it is hard to know what training or supervision an intervention required.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

Do not read the many positive reports as proof that these psychosocial interventions work for older adults with intellectual disabilities. The review did not assess effectiveness thoroughly, and much of the evidence came from small single-case or short-term studies with variable or absent follow-up.