Journal of occupational rehabilitation
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Purpose Work transitions among breast cancer survivors remain an underexplored area. We aimed to examine prevalence and determinants of changes in work status, and the effect of these changes on quality of life of breast cancer survivors. Methods A cross-sectional study of 410 female breast cancer survivors randomly drawn from a larger study sample pool (n = 2644), members of "Leumit" healthcare fund, who were diagnosed with primary nonmetastatic invasive breast cancer in the years 2002-2012. ⋯ In multivariable analyses, work transition between diagnosis and time of the survey was positively associated with being immigrant compared to native-born Israeli (odds ratio (OR) 4.65; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.91-11.37; P = .001), and inversely with education level of college or over compared to high school or less (OR 0.27; 95% CI 0.09-0.86; P = .026). Conclusions Breast cancer survivors with characteristics pointing at underprivileged social circumstances more often experienced changes in work status after surviving breast cancer, irrespective of diagnosis, comorbidity or treatment. Breast cancer patients with immigrant status and/or lower educational attainment need more support to be able to keep their job.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Work-Related Outcomes in Self-Employed Cancer Survivors: A European Multi-country Study.
Purpose 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). ⋯ 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.