Table 2.
Work-related factors and work ability of surveyed women with metastatic breast cancer
| Overall | Stably-working | No-longer-working | Effect size (p-value) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (n=133) | (n=72) | (n=61) | ||
| General factors | ||||
| Employment status at diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer | 0.12 (p= 0.381) | |||
| Full time | 111 (83.5%) | 63 (87.5%) | 48 (78.7%) | |
| Part time | 20 (15%) | 8 (11.1%) | 12 (19.7%) | |
| Employed but not working | 2 (1.5%) | 1 (1.4%) | 1 (1.6%) | |
| Current importance of work | 0.57 (p <0.001) | |||
| Extremely important | 25 (18.8%) | 24 (33.3%) | 1 (1.6%) | |
| Very important | 51 (38.3%) | 34 (47.2%) | 17 (27.9%) | |
| Neither important nor unimportant | 18 (13.5%) | 4 (5.6%) | 14 (23%) | |
| Somewhat unimportant | 15 (11.3%) | 6 (8.3%) | 9 (14.8%) | |
| Not at all important | 24 (18.1%) | 4 (5.6%) | 20 (32.8%) | |
| Work ability | ||||
| Work ability at diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer | 0.08 (p = 0.494) | |||
| Regular work activities | 124 (94.7%) | 66 (93%) | 58 (96.7%) | |
| Modified work activities/restricted duties | 7 (5.3%) | 5 (7%) | 2 (3.3%) | |
| Metastatic breast cancer affected… d | ||||
| My physical ability to work | 93 (72%) | 43 (63.2%) | 50 (82%) | 0.21 (p= 0.018) |
| My mental ability to work | 77 (59.7%) | 34 (50%) | 43 (70.5%) | 0.21 (p= 0.018) |
| My relationship with my employer | 22 (17%) | 14 (20.6%) | 8 (13.1%) | 0.10 (p= 0.26) |
| My ability to complete work in a timely manner | 44 (34.1%) | 20 (29.4%) | 24 (39.3%) | 0.10 (p= 0.235) |
| My relationship with my co-worker(s) | 33 (25.6%) | 16 (23.5%) | 17 (27.9%) | 0.05 (p= 0.573) |
| Overall current a work ability b, mean (SD) | 5.3 (3.3) | 7.3 (2.5) | 3.0 (2.5) | 1.73 (p< 0.001) |
| Current a work ability b with respect to the mental demands of current or previous work | 0.66 (p< 0.001) | |||
| Very poor | 25 (19.7%) | 4 (6.1%) | 21 (34.4%) | |
| Rather poor | 24 (18.9%) | 3 (4.6%) | 21 (34.4%) | |
| Moderate | 33 (26%) | 18 (27.3%) | 15 (24.6%) | |
| Rather good | 26 (20.5%) | 24 (36.4%) | 2 (3.3%) | |
| Very good | 19 (14.9%) | 17 (25.8%) | 2 (3.3%) | |
| Current a work ability b with respect to the mental demands of current or previous work | 0.57 (p< 0.001) | |||
| Very poor | 18 (14%) | 2 (3%) | 16 (26.2%) | |
| Rather poor | 25 (19.5%) | 6 (9%) | 19 (31.2%) | |
| Moderate | 31 (24.2%) | 14 (20.9%) | 17 (27.9%) | |
| Rather good | 37 (29%) | 30 (44.8%) | 7 (11.5%) | |
| Very good | 17 (13.3%) | 15 (22.4%) | 2 (3.3%) | |
| Importance of work c | ||||
| Reasons why work is important (among those reporting very or extremely important) d | (n= 74) | (n=56) | (n=18) | |
| Success is important to me | 24 (32.4%) | 17 (30.4%) | 7 (38.9%) | 0.08 (p= 0.501) |
| It means a lot for me to be able to support myself/my family | 45 (60.8%) | 36 (64.3%) | 9 (50%) | 0.13 (p= 0.28) |
| It is important that I have a worthwhile job | 47 (63.5%) | 34 (60.7%) | 13 (72.2%) | 0.10 (p= 0.378) |
| It is necessary for financial and/or insurance reasons | 56 (75.7%) | 45 (80.4%) | 11 (61.1%) | 0.19 (p= 0.098) |
| Work is an important part of my social life | 39 (52.7%) | 27 (48.2%) | 12 (66.7%) | 0.16 (p= 0.173) |
| Staying busy is important to me | 51 (69%) | 38 (67.9%) | 13 (72.2%) | 0.04 (p= 0.728) |
| Other | 11 (14.9%) | 8 (14.3%) | 3 (16.7%) | 0.03 (p= 0.805) |
| Reasons why work is unimportant (among those reporting somewhat unimportant or not at all important) d | (n=39) | (n=10) | (n=29) | |
| Work has never been very important to me | 1 (2.6%) | 0 | 1 (3.5%) | 0.10 (p= 0.552) |
| Work is less important to me since being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer | 26 (66.7%) | 10 (100%) | 16 (55.2%) | (p= 0.01) 0.26 |
| Work is not important because I do not need to work for financial reasons | 12 (30.8%) | 1 (10%) | 11 (37.9%) | (p= 0.099) 0.04 |
| Work is not important because I do not need to work for insurance reasons | 13 (33.3%) | 3 (30%) | 10 (34.5%) | (p= 0.795) 0.14 |
| Work is not important because it does not provide social support | 2 (5.6%) | 0 | 2 (6.9%) | (p= 0.394) 0.08 |
| Other | 17 (43.6%) | 5 (50%) | 12 (41.4%) | 0.08 (p= 0.635) |
Comparison between “stably-working” and “no-longer-working” groups using t-test for continuous variables and chi-square test for categorical variables; effect size is estimated with Cohen’s d for continuous variables or Cramer’s V for categorical variables.
Current meaning: for women in the stably-working group, they were instructed to “Think about the way you have felt over the past 4 weeks when answering the following questions”. For those in the no-longer-working group, they were instructed to “Think about the way you have felt over the past 4 week. Imagine that you were STILL doing the last job you had before you stopped working when answering the following questions”.
Work ability: On a scale of 0–10, with 10 representing work ability at its best and 0 representing completely unable to work.
Importance of work was assessed through branching logic in the survey. Thus, each question was applied to a subset of stably-working and no-longer-working groups.
Response category permitted more than one selection (e.g., “all that apply”). Thus, columns sum may exceed 100%.