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. 2017 Mar-Apr;35(2):180-201.
doi: 10.1080/07347332.2016.1276503. Epub 2017 Jan 3.

Managing cancer and employment: Decisions and strategies used by breast cancer survivors employed in low-wage jobs

Jennifer E Swanberg  1 , Helen M Nichols  1 , Jungyai Ko  2 , J Kathleen Tracy  3 , Robin C Vanderpool  4
Affiliations

Managing cancer and employment: Decisions and strategies used by breast cancer survivors employed in low-wage jobs

Jennifer E Swanberg et al. J Psychosoc Oncol. 2017 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

Advances in breast cancer screening and treatment have led to an overall 5-year survival rate of 90%. Many of these cancer cases are diagnosed in working women. Few studies have explicitly examined the cancer-work interface, as experienced by low-wage earning women with breast cancer. This study uses in-depth, semistructured interviews with 24 low-wage breast cancer survivors to identify employment decisions and factors that influenced or enabled these decisions, and examine the individual strategies and workplace supports used to manage the cancer-work interface among a subset of women (n = 13) who continued to work. Future research areas and clinical implications are discussed.

Keywords: breast neoplasms; cancer survivorship; cancer–work interface; employment; qualitative research; workplace supports.

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