Brian Reichow|Chiara Servili|M. Taghi Yasamy|Corrado Barbui|Shekhar Saxena
Non-Specialist Psychosocial Interventions for Children and Adolescents with Intellectual Disability or Lower-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review
University of Connecticut Health Center|World Health Organization|World Health Organization|University of Verona|World Health Organization
development effective treatments use nonspecialists listed among top research priorities improving lives people mental illness worldwide purpose review appraise interventions children intellectual disabilities lowerfunctioning autism spectrum disorders delivered nonspecialist care providers community settings produce benefits compared either notreatment control group treatmentasusual comparatorwe systematically searched electronic databases 24 june 2013 locate prospective controlled studies psychosocial interventions delivered nonspecialist providers children intellectual disabilities lowerfunctioning autism spectrum disorders screened 234 full papers 34 articles describing 29 studies involving 1305 participants included majority studies included children exclusively diagnosis lowerfunctioning autism spectrum disorders 15 29 52 fifteen twentynine studies 52 randomized controlled trials half effect sizes 29 59 49 greater 050 18 62 statistically significant behavior analytic interventions best outcomes shown development daily skills cognitive rehabilitation training support interventions found effective improving developmental outcomes parent training interventions effective improving developmental behavioral family outcomes also conducted additional subgroup analyses using harvest plots limitations include studies potential performance bias conducted lower middleincome countriesthe findings review support delivery psychosocial interventions nonspecialist providers children intellectual disabilities lowerfunctioning autism spectrum disorders given scarcity specialists many lowresource settings including many lower middleincome countries findings may provide guidance scaleup efforts improving outcomes children developmental disorders lowerfunctioning autism spectrum disordersprospero crd42012002641