Employment Sustainability for People with Intellectual Disability: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Purpose Previous reviews about employment for people with intellectual disability (ID) have left questions about employment sustainability unanswered. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review was to identify and analyse research regarding employment sustainability for people with ID. The research questions were: What research about employment sustainability for people with ID has been published internationally between 2010 and 2020? In the identified studies, how is employment sustainability defined and measured and what are the main findings regarding employment sustainability? Methods A systematic review was conducted using eight databases from various disciplines including medical, health, and social sciences. After a selection process, 10 articles remained, and a framework matrix was created to analyse them. An employment sustainability definition was used as an analytical tool. Results Ten articles were identified as being about employment sustainability for people with ID. Five of them used qualitative designs and five used quantitative designs. Only four out of ten contained a definition of employment sustainability, and there was an inconsistency in measurement methods. The reported findings in the studied articles were categorised into three types: proportions of long-term employed individuals within the studied population, facilitators and barriers to long-term employment. Conclusions There is only a limited amount of research about employment sustainability for people with ID. Nevertheless, a few facilitators and barriers could be identified. There is no consensus about how to define or measure employment sustainability, making comparisons difficult.

Keywords: Employment; Intellectual disability; Sustainability; Systematic review.

Fig. 1

Selection process, PRISMA flowchart