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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2013 May 22;8(5):e63271.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0063271. Print 2013.

Effectiveness of a hospital-based work support intervention for female cancer patients - a multi-centre randomised controlled trial

Sietske J Tamminga  1 , Jos H A M Verbeek, Monique M E M Bos, Guus Fons, Jos J E M Kitzen, Peter W Plaisier, Monique H W Frings-Dresen, Angela G E M de Boer
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effectiveness of a hospital-based work support intervention for female cancer patients - a multi-centre randomised controlled trial

Sietske J Tamminga et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Objective: One key aspect of cancer survivorship is return-to-work. Unfortunately, many cancer survivors face problems upon their return-to-work. For that reason, we developed a hospital-based work support intervention aimed at enhancing return-to-work. We studied effectiveness of the intervention compared to usual care for female cancer patients in a multi-centre randomised controlled trial.

Methods: Breast and gynaecological cancer patients who were treated with curative intent and had paid work were randomised to the intervention group (n = 65) or control group (n = 68). The intervention involved patient education and support at the hospital and improvement of communication between treating and occupational physicians. In addition, we asked patient's occupational physician to organise a meeting with the patient and the supervisor to make a concrete gradual return-to-work plan. Outcomes at 12 months of follow-up included rate and time until return-to-work (full or partial), quality of life, work ability, work functioning, and lost productivity costs. Time until return-to-work was analyzed with Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.

Results: Return-to-work rates were 86% and 83% (p = 0.6) for the intervention group and control group when excluding 8 patients who died or with a life expectancy of months at follow-up. Median time from initial sick leave to partial return-to-work was 194 days (range 14-435) versus 192 days (range 82-465) (p = 0.90) with a hazard ratio of 1.03 (95% CI 0.64-1.6). Quality of life and work ability improved statistically over time but did not differ statistically between groups. Work functioning and costs did not differ statistically between groups.

Conclusion: The intervention was easily implemented into usual psycho-oncological care and showed high return-to-work rates. We failed to show any differences between groups on return-to-work outcomes and quality of life scores. Further research is needed to study which aspects of the intervention are useful and which elements need improvement.

Trial registration: Nederlands Trial Register (NTR) 1658.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: Co-author Angela de Boer is a PLOS ONE Editorial Board member and Jos Verbeek has done so in the past. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Patient flow.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Kaplan-Meier survival curves for time to partial return-to-work (a) and full return-to-work (b).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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