What Employer Actions Are Considered Most Important for the Return to Work of Employees with Cancer? A Delphi Study Among Employees and Employers.
M A Greidanus, S J Tamminga, A E de Rijk and 2 others
PMID 30027426WHAT IT FOUND
Employers and employees with cancer independently ranked practical support, communication, emotional support, sufficient sick leave, work ability assessment, appreciation, and return-to-work planning among the most important supports, varying by phase.
Key findings
01Employers reached consensus on nine employer actions across the four return-to-work phases, including practical support, communication, emotional support, sufficient sick leave, return-to-work planning, adjusted expectations, work ability assessment, appreciation, and treating normally.
02Employees with cancer reached consensus on eight employer actions across the four return-to-work phases, including emotional support, sufficient sick leave, practical support, work ability assessment, handling unpredictability, return-to-work planning, adjusted expectations, and appreciation.
03The panels differed during the treatment phase: employers reached consensus on communication and return-to-work planning, while employees reached consensus on handling unpredictability.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The panels were small: 23 employers and 29 employees, and the authors said statistical power might not be adequate to be sure the 80% consensus threshold was not reached by chance. Some actions overlapped, such as adjusted expectations and reduced work pressure, which participants noticed and which may have affected selections. The number of actions offered in round 2 varied between 15 and 18 by phase, while experts had to choose a fixed 10, which reduced the chance of reaching 80% consensus. Most employers worked at medium-sized or large companies, so the findings may not fit small companies. The study was done in the Netherlands, where employers must cover employee income for at least 2 years; this may have lowered the priority of financial support. The study reports expert consensus on priorities, not tested interventions or return-to-work outcomes.
Declared interests
Funded by KWF Kankerbestrijding (NL). The supplied text gives no further conflict-of-interest declaration.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the consensus list as evidence that these employer actions improve return to work. The study asked experts to rank priorities; it did not test an intervention or report patient outcomes.