Flexibility and Support Help Cancer Survivors Return to Work

Improved screening and treatment means more and more cancer survivors are returning to the work force. Despite this trend, little is known about what helps these employees return to work successfully.

SPH assistant professor Nancy Nachreiner is combining her expertise in occupational health and interest in cancer survivorship to investigate the factors associated with a positive return-to-work experience. She recently led a pilot study in which women ages 31-54 who had been diagnosed and treated for cancer in the previous year participated in a focus group.

Nachreiner's team identified common factors that the women said helped them return to work, including job flexibility, coworker support, and health care provider engagement. Factors that hindered return to work were ignorance about cancer in the workplace, lack of emotional support, and the physical effects of cancer.

The findings can serve as a starting point to consider the provisions offered to survivors under the Americans with Disability Act. The study also underscores the important role of occupational health nurses.

"Occupational health nurses can work directly with cancer survivors and health care providers to establish a healthy workplace and comply with any legal requirements," explains Nachreiner.

Because the return-to-work experiences of cancer survivors vary greatly, Nachreiner says there won't be any easy policy solutions.

"But so little is known about this issue right now that great improvements can be made to help survivors and employers," she says. "With the growing number of survivors, it's a prime time to start finding answers."

To hear a Public Health Moment about this study, go to www.sph.umn.edu/moment.