Table 1.
Participant characteristics at baseline
| Participant characteristics (n = 35) |
Intervention group n = 24 |
Control group n = 11 |
P-value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n (%) | Mean ± SD | n (%) | Mean ± SD | |||
| Sociodemographic variables | ||||||
| Age (years) | 18–49 | 7 (29%) | 6 (55%) | 0.20 | ||
| 50–59 | 13 (54%) | 5 (46%) | ||||
| 60–63 | 4 (17%) | 0 (0%) | ||||
| Gender | Female | 24 (100%) | 10 (91%) | 0.14 | ||
| Level of education | Low | 1 (4%) | 0 (0%) | 0.79 | ||
| Middle | 10 (42%) | 5 (46%) | ||||
| High | 13 (54%) | 6 (55%) | ||||
| Health-related variables | ||||||
| Cancer diagnosis | Breast | 19 (79%) | 9 (82%) | 0.96 | ||
| Colon | 2 (8%) | 1 (9%) | ||||
| Other (bladder, prostate, ovarian) | 3 (13%) | 1 (9%) | ||||
| Time since most recent cancer diagnosis | (months) | 10.0 ± 5.5 | 9.1 ± 3.1 | 0.61 | ||
| Treatmenta | Surgery | 22 (92%) | 10 (91%) | 0.94 | ||
| Chemotherapy | 12 (50%) | 10 (91%) | 0.02 | |||
| Radiation | 11 (46%) | 5 (46%) | 0.98 | |||
| Hormone treatment | 9 (38%) | 4 (36%) | 0.95 | |||
| Other (immunotherapy. Oxygen therapy, chemo flush) | 3 (13%) | 2 (18%) | 0.66 | |||
| Duration of treatment | (months) | 7.8 ± 4.2 | 7.9 ± 3.4 | 0.94 | ||
| “Experience type” cancer survivor [25] | An emotional cancer survivor | 0 (0%) | 2 (18%) | 0.05 | ||
| A cancer survivor who wants little attention for his or her health situation | 8 (33%) | 4 (36%) | ||||
| A cancer survivor who starts looking differently at work and life | 13 (54%) | 2 (18%) | ||||
| “I cannot judge” | 3 (13%) | 3 (27%) | ||||
| Work-related variables – job characteristics | ||||||
| Workload | Physical (0–28)b | 4.0 ± 3.3 | 3.1 ± 3.0 | 0.44 | ||
| Emotional (0–28)b | 6.5 ± 3.7 | 5.3 ± 3.6 | 0.38 | |||
| Position | Managerial position | 6 (25%) | 2 (18%) | 0.66 | ||
| Gross monthly income | ≤ €2000 | 3 (13%) | 2 (18%) | 0.95 | ||
| €2001 – €3000 | 10 (42%) | 5 (46%) | ||||
| ≥ €3001 | 8 (33%) | 3 (27%) | ||||
| Unknown | 3 (13%) | 1 (9%) | ||||
| Contract | Permanent | 23 (96%) | 10 (91%) | 0.56 | ||
| Hours | 28.9 ± 8.4 | 29.1 ± 4.5 | 0.82 | |||
| Work-related variables – organisational characteristics | ||||||
| Size of organisation | < 50 employees | 3 (13%) | 2 (18%) | 0.33 | ||
| 51–250 employees | 4 (17%) | 4 (36%) | ||||
| > 251 employee | 17 (71%) | 5 (46%) | ||||
| Sector | Non-profit | 11 (46%) | 5 (46%) | 0.98 | ||
| Profit | 13 (54%) | 6 (55%) | ||||
| Time working for current organisation | ≤ 5 years | 4 (17%) | 2 (18%) | 0.84 | ||
| 6–20 years | 11 (46%) | 6 (55%) | ||||
| ≥ 21 years | 9 (38%) | 3 (27%) | ||||
| Work-related support since diagnosisa | Occupational physician | 18 (75%) | 9 (82%) | 0.66 | ||
| Re-integration services | 0 (0%) | 1 (9%) | 0.13 | |||
| Social worker | 1 (4%) | 2 (18%) | 0.17 | |||
| Supervisor | 15 (63%) | 7 (64%) | 0.95 | |||
| Colleagues | 1 (4%) | 1 (9%) | 0.56 | |||
| No work-related support | 4 (17%) | 2 (18%) | 0.91 | |||
| Contact with employer since diagnosis | 0 times | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0.27 | ||
| 1–3 times | 2 (8%) | 0 (0%) | ||||
| 4–9 times | 7 (29%) | 6 (55%) | ||||
| ≥ 10 times | 15 (63%) | 5 (46%) | ||||
| Work-related variables – current and former work status | ||||||
| Total duration sick leave | (months) | 7.5 ± 3.3 | 8.4 ± 3.4 | 0.50 | ||
| RTW phase of cancer survivor [16] | Phase 1: disclosure | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0.22 | ||
| Phase 2: treatment | 8 (33%) | 5 (46%) | ||||
| Phase 3: RTW planning | 9 (38%) | 1 (9%) | ||||
| Phase 4: actual RTW | 7 (29%) | 5 (46%) | ||||
| Current work situation relative to that before cancer diagnosisa | Changed working hours | 10 (42%) | 4 (36%) | 0.77 | ||
| Changed working tasks | 4 (17%) | 1 (9%) | 0.55 | |||
| Assistance at work | 0 (0%) | 2 (18%) | 0.03 | |||
| Changed workplace | 2 (8%) | 1 (9%) | 0.94 | |||
| Nothing has changed | 7 (29%) | 3 (27%) | 0.91 | |||
| Not applicable | 2 (8%) | 2 (18%) | 0.15 | |||
| Work-related variables – effect measures | ||||||
| Successful RTW | RTW - Yes | 14 (58%) | 6 (55%) | 0.83 | ||
| Success of RTWc (1–6)b | 5.0 ± 0.7 | 5.2 ± 0.2 | 0.49 | |||
| Quality of working lifec | (0–100)b | 73.9 ± 9.3 | 72.9 ± 8.6 | 0.83 | ||
| Unwanted work changes | (relative to pre-diagnosis) | 0.0 ± 0.0 | 0.0 ± 0.0 | N/A | ||
aMultiple options may apply to 1 participant
bHigher scores represent higher levels of workload and of successful RTW
cDetermined for the subgroup of participants who did return to work
N/A not applicable