Getting back to work after a cancer diagnosis and cancer treatment can be difficult. The afflicted person may have been out of the workplace for a long period of time. They may have ongoing fatigue, and may be worried about how they will cope.

Sometimes there’s not a lot that the workplace can do to influence these factors, but do other factors, such as employer attitudes, also bear on the situation?

In a study of people’s perceptions of work following cancer treatment, researchers asked people who were returning to work what they believed would be the impact of their health condition on work. They also asked a number of employers from medium and large organisations about their beliefs on how an employee’s work would be impacted after cancer treatment.

The researchers found that employers had more concerns and more negative beliefs about return to work than the employees who had experienced cancer.

Employers were more concerned about the impact of the cancer and the impact of treatment on getting back to work. Employers also thought the impact of the person’s condition would be more significant than the employees considered it to be. 

To someone coming back to work, the attitude of their co-workers and the organisation is important. It can have a major bearing on their wellbeing and on the smoothness of their return to work progress. It is important that employers are helpful and positive.

The employee returning to work is probably the best person to educate the employer about their illness, and on what they can and cannot do. The best approach is for the employer to have an open conversation with the worker, with the worker informing the employer about their own capabilities and views on their return to work.
 

Authors

Grunfeld EA. Low E. Cooper AF. .

Authors Full Name

Grunfeld, E A. Low, E. Cooper, A F. .

Institution

Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, 5th Floor Bermondsey Wing, Guy's Hospital, London SE1 9RT, USA. beth.grunfeld@kcl.ac.uk

Title

Cancer survivors' and employers' perceptions of working following cancer treatment.

Source

Occupational Medicine (Oxford). 60(8):611-7, 2010 Dec.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Earlier diagnosis and improvements in treatment survival rates have led to an increase in the number of cancer survivors for whom returning to work is a realistic outcome. However, cancer survivors face a number of challenges when returning to the workplace. Little is known about how patients' illness and treatment beliefs affect return to work or of employers' beliefs about the impact of cancer on work.

AIMS: To determine patient and employers' beliefs about the impact of cancer on returning to work and to identify differences in the beliefs held by patients and employers.

METHODS: Patients absent from work due to breast, urological, gynaecological or head and neck cancers completed a questionnaire within 4 weeks of completing treatment. Unlinked employer respondents from medium to large organizations completed the same questionnaire. The questionnaire focused on the perceived impact of cancer and its treatment on work and an adapted version of the Brief Illness Perceptions Questionnaire.

RESULTS: One hundred and ninety four patients (response rate of 82%) and 252 employers (response rate 31%) completed the questionnaire. Organizational respondents consistently reported more negative beliefs about the impact of cancer and treatment on work and in general held more negative illness perceptions about cancer in relation to work.

CONCLUSIONS: A discrepancy between beliefs of organizational respondents and cancer survivors could impact on an employees' management of their work and on employers' responsiveness to the needs of survivors. Therefore, it is important that return to work plans include the elicitation of employee beliefs.

PubMed Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20855546