Return to Work Following Breast Cancer Treatment: The Employers’ Side

Abstract

The findings of this study confirm the importance of the employer's involvement in RTW of employees with breast cancer and contribute to a better understanding of its complexity. The employers did their best to grasp the intangibility of the RTW process. Further research is needed to refine these findings and to discover the specific needs of employers regarding supporting RTW of breast cancer patients.

Perceived employer‐related barriers and facilitators for work participation of cancer survivors: A systematic review of employers' and survivors' perspectives

“…After removing duplicates, 212 were screened on title and abstract, of which 207 were excluded. The remaining 5 studies met all inclusion criteria . Two studies described results using the same data, but both were included because supplementary barriers and facilitators were extracted from both studies .…”

“…Employers perceived the presence of RTW policies and protocols about possible arrangements for RTW as a facilitator for survivors' work participation . Being flexible with these policies was also perceived as a facilitator .…”

Theoretical perspectives upon the return to work of cancer patients: The difficult path of integration in the organization

“…In an article Tiedtke et al (2013, 399-409) (Nowrouzi et al 2009;Grunfeld, Low and Cooper 2010;Tiedtke et al 2013). …”

“Dis-able bodied” or “dis-able minded”: stakeholders’ return-to-work experiences compared between physical and mental health conditions

“…[9][10][11][12] In making these decisions, employers seem to base their approach, inter alia, on their perceptions of the sick-listed employee's image, attitude, personality and openness about the illness and the RTW. [13,14] Moreover, employers' actions appear influenced by the value and the replaceability of the sick-listed employee, and by the presence of goodwill and trust. [4,6,[15][16][17][18][19] Finally, research has pointed to the potentially facilitating role of OHPs in the RTW process, [4] the stimulating role of unions on employers taking proactive RTW measures, [8,20] and to the relevance of coworkers in the phase before, during and after the RTW.…”

“…[4,23] This is because scholars have either addressed RTW experiences in relation to a specific symptom group, such as musculoskeletal disorders, [7,14] cancer, [13,17] common mental disorders [19,24] and depression, [20] or have not distinguished between the two health conditions in their findings. [6,9,11,12,15,16,18] As a result, the limited available research has proven inconclusive so far: While some literature reviews suggest the existence of similarities between RTW experiences in physical (here, musculoskeletal) and mental health conditions, [23] such as the importance of work adjustments, [4,25] qualitative studies noted differences in RTW experiences between both health conditions.…”