Abstract
Cancer patients are more at risk of being unemployed or having difficulties to return to work (RTW) compared to individuals without health concerns, and is thus a major public health issue. The aim of this systematic review is to identify and describe the interventions developed specifically to help cancer patients to RTW after treatment. Two researchers independently screened the articles for inclusion and Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) checklists were used to assess the methodology of the included studies. Ten manuscripts met the inclusion criteria. The type of studies were three quasi-experimental studies, three longitudinal studies, three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and a qualitative study. RTW interventions were conducted in or outside the hospital (n = 6 and 3 respectively), or both (n = 1). Improvements in RTW were only observed in quasi-experimental studies. No improvement in RTW was noted in RCTs, nor in other measures (e.g., quality of life, fatigue). Lack of statistically significant improvement does not necessarily reflect reality, but may be attributed to non-adapted research methods. This systematic review underscores the need for researches in the RTW field to reach a consensus on RTW criteria and their assessment. Recommendations to this effect are suggested.
Highlights
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world, with 18 million new cases and 9.6 million deaths from the disease in 2018 [1]
Quality of life improved significantly for breast cancer patients after the intervention, compared to usual care, when it was measured with a specific breast cancer quality of life subscale (FACT-B scale) 6 months after the intervention; but the effect was not maintained at 12 months [34]
This systematic review highlights the difficulties encountered by health professionals and researchers in helping cancer patients return to work (RTW)
Summary
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world, with 18 million new cases and 9.6 million deaths from the disease in 2018 [1]. The number of people with cancer has been increasing steadily for the last 10 years worldwide, with a 33% increase in the number of cases between 2005 and 2015 [2]. Improvements in early detection and the development of novel therapeutic approaches have contributed to an increase in survival rates [3]. In 2018, 43.8 million people were cancer survivors [1], equivalent to the population of Argentina. In the USA, around 15.5 million (5% of the population) are cancer survivors and this number is estimated to exceed 20 million. Public Health 2019, 16, 1343; doi:10.3390/ijerph16081343 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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