Support for balancing cancer treatment and work by occupational health nurses: support structures and implementation status

Abstract

This study aimed to quantitatively grasp the structure of support for balancing cancer treatment and work among occupational health nurses (OHNs) with the current implementation status. The anonymous questionnaire was designed based on the findings of our previous qualitative study and distributed to OHNs. The degrees of support implementation for workers with cancer, superiors and colleagues, and human resource managers were assessed for each item. Factor analysis of support items was conducted, and Wilcoxon signed-rank test was carried out to compare the support scores between the factors. Support for workers with cancer comprised six factors in which the factor, concerning the provision of information regarding resources inside and outside the company, showed the lowest score. Support for superiors and colleagues was divided into three factors, and that for human resource managers comprised two factors. By Mann-Whitney's U-test, it was found that OHNs, who worked without full-time occupational health physicians for smaller companies, showed significantly higher implementation for several support factors, such as support to human resource managers. This study revealed the structure as well as implementation status of OHNs' support for balancing cancer treatment and work, which will provide suggestions for developing training programs for OHNs to promote these activities.

Effectiveness of a support program for balancing treatment and work in small and medium-sized enterprises promoted by occupational health nurse using a web meeting system: A cluster randomized controlled trial

“…Nishikido et al reported that OHNs provided support in promoting TWBS not only to workers with illnesses but also to managers, and HR staff. [14][15][16][17][18][19][20] The fact that the intervention encouraged willingness and belief, empowering mutual respect and support suggests that the expected effect was achieved.…”

“…In SMEs that do not have full-time OPs, OHNs play a central role in providing support to promote health in the workplace. [18][19][20] The authors believe that it is necessary to conduct empirical research on the effectiveness of the TWBS program promoted by OHNs in SMEs, as no previous research has been conducted on this topic. The authors developed the "Recognition and Attitude Scale toward TWBS in SMEs" ("Recognition and Attitude Scale") as an evaluation index in a preliminary study.…”

Sense of Difficulty in Providing Support for Balancing Cancer Treatment and Work Among Occupational Health Nurses

“…Because there was no precedent study about the sense of difficulty among OHNs when we conducted this study, the items about sense of difficulty in the questionnaire were created by repeated discussions among the authors based on the results of our previous study using FGI with OHNs 18,19) and relevant literatures. Finally, we determined 11 items related to the sense of difficulty experienced by OHNs in providing support.…”

“…In Japan, OHNs play varying roles from primary to tertiary prevention at workplaces and collaborate with occupational health physicians and other professionals 18) . Recently, the balance between cancer treatment and work has been an issue in workplaces because the number of cancer survivors in the working population has significantly increased with the progress in medical treatment 1) .…”

“…Support to workers with cancer and their workplaces are the new challenges faced by relevant health professionals. In our previous study, we conducted focus group inter view (FGI) with OHNs, the topic of which was defined as "the difficulties faced in providing support for balancing work and cancer treatment", and qualitatively extracted nine categories related to the sense of difficulty, such as assessing unstable health conditions by cancer treatment, supporting cases of terminal cancer survivors, promoting decision-making, protecting personal information, creating sound workplace culture, building support system at the workplace, collaborating with occupational physicians, and collaborating with hospital staff 18,19) . However, little is known about the level of the sense of difficulty in providing support for cancer survivors among OHNs.…”