{"title":"Supporting the return to work of breast cancer survivors: perspectives from Canadian employer representatives.","authors":"Karine Bilodeau, Marie-Michelle Gouin, Asma Fadhlaoui, Bertrand Porro","doi":"10.1007/s11764-023-01382-5","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>PUR POSE: A significant proportion of women with breast cancer want to RTW (return to work) after treatment. Employers play a key role in facilitating RTW for these employees who face distinct challenges. However, the portrait of these challenges remains to be documented from the perspective of employer representatives. The purpose of this article is to describe the perceptions of Canadian employer representatives regarding the management of the RTW of BCSs (breast cancer survivors).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Thirteen qualitative interviews were conducted with representatives from businesses of various sizes (< 100 employees, 100-500 employees, > 500 employees). Transcribed data were subjected to iterative data analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Three major themes emerged to describe employer representatives' perceptions of managing RTW of BCS. These are (1) providing tailored support; (2) remaining 'human' while managing RTW; and (3) facing the challenges of RTW management after breast cancer. The first two themes were perceived as facilitating RTW. The challenges identified concern uncertainty, communication with the employee, maintaining a supernumerary work position, balancing employee and organizational interests, reconciling with colleagues' complaints, and collaboration among stakeholders.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Employers can adopt a humanistic management style by offering flexibility and increased accommodation for BCS who RTW. They can also be more sensitive to this diagnosis, leading some to seek more information from those around them who have experienced it. Employers require increased awareness about diagnosis and side effects, be more confident to communicate, and improved collaboration between stakeholders to facilitate the RTW of BCS.</p><p><strong>Implications for cancer survivors: </strong>Employers who focus on the individual needs of cancer survivors during RTW can facilitate creative and personalized solutions for a sustainable RTW and help survivors recover their lives after cancer.</p>","PeriodicalId":15284,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cancer Survivorship","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10157121/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Cancer Survivorship","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-023-01382-5","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/5/4 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ONCOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
PUR POSE: A significant proportion of women with breast cancer want to RTW (return to work) after treatment. Employers play a key role in facilitating RTW for these employees who face distinct challenges. However, the portrait of these challenges remains to be documented from the perspective of employer representatives. The purpose of this article is to describe the perceptions of Canadian employer representatives regarding the management of the RTW of BCSs (breast cancer survivors).
Methods: Thirteen qualitative interviews were conducted with representatives from businesses of various sizes (< 100 employees, 100-500 employees, > 500 employees). Transcribed data were subjected to iterative data analysis.
Results: Three major themes emerged to describe employer representatives' perceptions of managing RTW of BCS. These are (1) providing tailored support; (2) remaining 'human' while managing RTW; and (3) facing the challenges of RTW management after breast cancer. The first two themes were perceived as facilitating RTW. The challenges identified concern uncertainty, communication with the employee, maintaining a supernumerary work position, balancing employee and organizational interests, reconciling with colleagues' complaints, and collaboration among stakeholders.
Conclusions: Employers can adopt a humanistic management style by offering flexibility and increased accommodation for BCS who RTW. They can also be more sensitive to this diagnosis, leading some to seek more information from those around them who have experienced it. Employers require increased awareness about diagnosis and side effects, be more confident to communicate, and improved collaboration between stakeholders to facilitate the RTW of BCS.
Implications for cancer survivors: Employers who focus on the individual needs of cancer survivors during RTW can facilitate creative and personalized solutions for a sustainable RTW and help survivors recover their lives after cancer.
期刊介绍:
Cancer survivorship is a worldwide concern. The aim of this multidisciplinary journal is to provide a global forum for new knowledge related to cancer survivorship. The journal publishes peer-reviewed papers relevant to improving the understanding, prevention, and management of the multiple areas related to cancer survivorship that can affect quality of care, access to care, longevity, and quality of life. It is a forum for research on humans (both laboratory and clinical), clinical studies, systematic and meta-analytic literature reviews, policy studies, and in rare situations case studies as long as they provide a new observation that should be followed up on to improve outcomes related to cancer survivors. Published articles represent a broad range of fields including oncology, primary care, physical medicine and rehabilitation, many other medical and nursing specialties, nursing, health services research, physical and occupational therapy, public health, behavioral medicine, psychology, social work, evidence-based policy, health economics, biobehavioral mechanisms, and qualitative analyses. The journal focuses exclusively on adult cancer survivors, young adult cancer survivors, and childhood cancer survivors who are young adults. Submissions must target those diagnosed with and treated for cancer.