• Steffen Torp, Alain Paraponaris, Elke Van Hoof, Marja-Liisa Lindbohm, Sietske J Tamminga, Caroline Alleaume, Nick Van Campenhout, Linda Sharp, and de Boer Angela G E M AGEM Coronel Institute of Occupational Health, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands..
• Department of Health, Social & Welfare Studies, University of South-Eastern Norway, Tønsberg, Norway. steffen.torp@usn.no.
• J Occup Rehabil. 2019 Jun 1; 29 (2): 361-374.

AbstractPurpose To describe: (i) patterns of self-employment and social welfare provisions for self-employed and salaried workers in several European countries; (ii) work-related outcomes after cancer in self-employed people and to compare these with the work-related outcomes of salaried survivors within each sample; and (iii) work-related outcomes for self-employed cancer survivors across countries. Methods Data from 11 samples from seven European countries were included. All samples had cross-sectional survey data on work outcomes in self-employed and salaried cancer survivors who were working at time of diagnosis (n = 22-261 self-employed/101-1871 salaried). The samples included different cancers and assessed different outcomes at different times post-diagnosis. Results Fewer self-employed cancer survivors took time off work due to cancer compared to salaried survivors. More self-employed than salaried survivors worked post-diagnosis in almost all countries. Among those working at the time of survey, self-employed survivors had made a larger reduction in working hours compared to pre-diagnosis, but they still worked more hours per week post-diagnosis than salaried survivors. The self-employed had received less financial compensation when absent from work post-cancer, and more self-employed, than salaried, survivors reported a negative financial change due to the cancer. There were differences between self-employed and salaried survivors in physical job demands, work ability and quality-of-life but the direction and magnitude of the differences differed across countries. Conclusion Despite sample differences, self-employed survivors more often continued working during treatment and had, in general, worse financial outcomes than salaried cancer survivors. Other work-related outcomes differed in different directions across countries.

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