Return to Work of Breast Cancer Survivors

Introduction: The major advances in detecting and managing breast cancer(BC) have led to the treatment of women who are more likely to be of workingage. Employed women usually interrupt their work for the treatment of BC.Prolonged sickness absence often generates loss of income and social exclusion.Hence, return to work during or after BC treatment is important. The aims ofthis review were to examine both the rate of return to work and factorsimpacting this return.Methods: An electronic search was performed using the keywords ‘‘breastcancer’’, ‘‘return to work’’, and employment . The search was restricted toEnglish language review and original articles that were published on PubMed,Scopus and SCIRUS databases. There was no time period restriction.Results: A high percentage of employed BC patients returned to work aftertreatment, and workplace accommodations played an important role in theirreturn. The following factors were associated with return to work: a supportivework environment, perceived employer discrimination because of a cancerdiagnosis and perceived employer accommodation for cancer illness andtreatment. Whilst high-demand job and treatment with chemotherapy werenegatively related to return to work. Finding showed that the employers have apivotal role in BC patients successful return to work. Many studies noticed theimportance of communication within the workplace with regard to the return towork process and the need to provide better support and guidance to BCsurvivors, line managers and colleagues.Conclusion: It is important to address that BC survivors receive little adviceabout returning to work. It is obvious that more advice is required from healthprofessionals about returning to work, along with reasonable support andadjustments from employers to ensure that BC survivors are able to successfullyreintegrate back into the workforce. Health care professionals could becomemore involved in the education of BC patients with regard to the timing ofreturning to work.

Keywords:

Breast cancer , return to work , employment