Cancer Survivors
Conditions
Keywords
Cancer Survivors, Return to work, Employers, Qualitative Research
Brief summary
European Cancer Mission calls attention to the return to work (RTW) of cancer survivors (CSs), as one of the pivotal issues of the cancer continuum that need to be addressed through proper and prompt actions and recommendations. Employers are important stakeholders, as they can provide emotional and practical support, sustain communication during the entire process, and guarantee a gradual work reintegration. In Italy there is lack of knowledge regarding this topic. Thus, further exploration of Italian employers' perspectives on the RTW of employees with cancer should be performed to comprehend their unknown experiences. The aim is to explore the perspectives of employers who dealt with the RTW process of employees who received a cancer diagnosis through a qualitative research design.
Detailed description
Data collection will be performed through individual semi-structured interviews. Each interview will last around 60 minutes, and it can be arranged in person or remotely, depending on the participant's preference. Socio-demographic data, expertise of the employer, and company-related data will be collected through a semi-structured interview. Experiences of employers will be collected through open-ended questions using an interview guide that was written based on the one used by Tiedtke et al., 2017, by adding some questions related to the facilitators and barriers perceived by employers during the sickness absence and RTW of employee with cancer. The open-ended questions will concern general information about the company, employers' experience after cancer disclosure and during sick leave, employers' experience to sustain the RTW process and the long-term work reintegration, and the influence of the experience on the company. Each interview will be audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed according to the thematic analysis method using an inductive approach with open coding. Analysis will be iterative and involve multiple researchers to ensure inter-rater reliability of the coding procedure and the methodological rigor of the analysis. Themes generated will be discussed with Dutch researchers from the Amsterdam University Medical Centers. Analyses will be carried out at the end of each interview because, based on the themes that will emerge from each interview, we will understand when to stop recruiting.
Interventions
None listed
Sponsors
Amsterdam University Medical Centers (UMC), Location Academic Medical Center (AMC)
Azienda USL Reggio Emilia - IRCCS
Study design
Observational model
COHORT
Time perspective
PROSPECTIVE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
1. employers\* of a company 2. being directly involved in managing the RTW process of at least one employee with cancer diagnosis in the last 5 years. * An employer can be the specific person who represents the company where the employee was working at the time of cancer diagnosis or a person who supported the employee during the sickness absence and the RTW process (e.g., line manager, human resource manager).
Exclusion criteria
* none
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Open-ended questions of a semi-structured interview to collect the employers experience of the management of the RTW process | 12 months | Themes describing how employers managed the RTW process of employees with cancer, of their feeling and thoughts, of what actions did they do, and of the relationships and communication with the other members of the company |
| Open-ended questions of a semi-structured interview to collect the employers' necessities while supporting the RTW process | 12 months | Themes describing what employers require to support employees who receive a cancer diagnosis in the RTW process |
| Open-ended questions of a semi-structured interview to collect the employers perceived barriers and facilitators while supporting the RTW process | 12 months | Themes describing the facilitators and barriers perceived by employers during the RTW process of employees who received a cancer diagnosis. For this outcome, themes will be classified using the Resource Dependence Institutional Cooperation (RDIC) model, developed by Rijk et al. and adjusted by Greidanus et al. (2018). |
Countries
Italy
Contacts
Primary ContactSara Paltrinieri, PhD, OT
Backup ContactStefania Costi, PhD, PT
Outcome results
None listed