Table 4.

Summaries of the qualitative content analysis.

Themes	Categories	Meaning units represented by participants’ quotes
Facilitators of RTW	Personal health conditions, financial needs, spiritual dependence, enjoying work, achieving self-value, family encouragement, social support	“As my physical health recovered relatively well, returning to work is a kind of spiritual sustenance.” “When returning to work, I could encounter different things and different people, which make me happy every day. Being back at work also could make me forget that I am a patient.” “My family’s support (such as from my husband and my son) and my colleagues’ support are key facilitators in my to return to work; for example, my colleagues help a lot by managing the lab, sometimes helping me teaching as well.”
Barriers and potential strategies for promoting RTW	Frequent follow-up care, enjoying rest at home, physically demanding work, worries about work ability, hazardous work environment, perceived discrimination from employers such as being passed over for promotion	“I think that the major barrier was coming from myself: I was worried that I could not do my job as well as before cancer, so a personal worry was the key barrier.” “I hope nurses and doctors instruct each patient about how soon each person can return to work after cancer treatment. If the leaders of each workplace can adjust survivors’ workload according to their health conditions, this will help many cancer survivors return to work.”

Note: RTW = return to work.