The maternal employment status after the completion of their child's cancer treatment: A cross-sectional exploratory study.
Hiromi Okada, Mitsue Maru, Rumi Maeda and 3 others
PMID 36271482WHAT IT FOUND
After treatment completion, 32 mothers were working and 30 were not.
Most non-working mothers wanted work. Caring for the child was the most common reason, and some cited fear of recurrence.
Key findings
01After treatment completion, 32 mothers were working and 30 mothers were not working.
02Among the 30 non-working mothers, 22 showed willingness to work.
03The most common reason for not working was caring for the child with cancer, answered by 14 mothers.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only two hospitals in Tokyo were studied, and only 62 of 96 questionnaires were returned, so results may not apply elsewhere. The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot show that any factor caused mothers to work or not work. Employment information was self-reported by mothers, and consent was assumed from questionnaire return, which may bias who responded. Few mothers had children with cancers other than leukaemia, so cancer type differences could not be examined well. It did not test nurse support or any intervention.
Declared interests
The study was funded by a Grant-in-Aid for Cancer Research from Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. The authors declared no competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these employment patterns as evidence that nurse advice improves maternal work after cancer treatment. The study is cross-sectional, small, and reports associations and experiences, not tested interventions.