A study looking into helping with the challenges of returning to work as a cancer survivor (AT WORK)

In this study, an occupational therapist will assess any barriers people may be facing when they return to work after successfully completing their cancer treatment. The researchers want to find out how more cancer survivors can be supported with their return to work in the future. It is for people who have had treatment at Weston Park Hospital in Sheffield.

More people are surviving cancer for longer. So we are all gradually becoming more aware of the long term impact of cancer and its treatment. Getting back to normal life after treatment has finished can be challenging. Cancer survivors can sometimes feel a loss of identity and purpose if they are not physically or mentally able to work. Being away from work can be costly to employees and employers, both financially and because of how this affects your quality of life. At the moment there is very little awareness of the types of problems that cancer survivors have when they are trying to get back to work after cancer treatment.

We first need to understand the main problems that make it difficult for cancer survivors to go back to work. An occupational therapist (OT) can help people return to work, because they understand the issues and are able to offer practical help.

This study will use an OT to identify problems cancer survivors are having when they are returning to work. In particular the OT will look at what the cancer survivor can do and compare that with what they need to do in order to return to work successfully. How they do this will depend upon each person’s health and the work they do. The study team hope this will help them understand the barriers cancer survivors are facing and whether or not they need to have any more time off work. They hope to use this information to be able to offer practical help for all cancer survivors wanting to get back to work.