Efficacy of community-based rehabilitation for children with or at significant risk of intellectual disabilities in low- and middle-income countries: a review.

Background: Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) is being implemented in more than 90 countries. Concerns have been voiced about the adequacy of the evidence base regarding the efficacy, effectiveness and efficiency of CBR. This review summarizes evidence on the efficacy of CBR for children with intellectual disabilities.

Materials And Method: Electronic literature database searches were conducted to identify articles in the English language published since 1980 relating to the efficacy of CBR for children with intellectual disabilities. Requests for information were also sent to membership of International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities and relevant organizations in selected low- and middle-income countries.

Results: Thirteen studies were identified for inclusion in the review. The quality of evidence for the efficacy of CBR for children with intellectual disabilities was 'very low'.

Conclusion: Improving the evidence base will require greater investment in evaluation and addressing the marginalization of people with intellectual disabilities in CBR.