A high percentage of the patients return to work (78%). These results show the success of oncological rehabilitation in helping patients to return to work. In addition, the occupation-related rehabilitation program enhances subjective variables as the satisfaction of the patients regarding the information and the improvement of the patients' working-capacity.

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Because occupational stress is associated with a higher risk of early retirement, both patients and physicians should take work-related problems seriously. Screening patients for occupational stress may help physicians identify patients who are at risk of experiencing problematic work re-entries. Furthermore, the results of the study suggest that cancer patients might have problems maintaining confidence in their abilities to solve work-related problems. Therefore, facilitating the development of a perception of self-efficacy might be an important treatment goal.

The results indicate that after having received their diagnosis most cancer patients do not experience negative reactions from their work environment and consequently report few worries with regard to returning to work. The different views on work-related offers during rehabilitation indicate that the concepts of occupation-related therapies within cancer rehabilitation might be optimized by taking the different needs of male and female patients into account.

Due to improved prognosis most cancer survivors are nowadays able to return to work. This review explored gender-related differences in work-related outcomes after cancer. A systematic search of studies on work-related issues in cancer survivors published between January 2001 and July 2011 was conducted. 44 original publications met the inclusion criteria (adult cancer survivors, focus on work-related outcomes, gender-specific report of results). The results of these studies indicate that impaired work ability is more common among female cancer survivors than among male cancer survivors as well as the reduction of working hours and income losses. Supportive work environments seem to be particularly helpful for the successful and long-lasting re-integration of female survivors. More systematic research and separate analyses for women and men are needed to fully comprehend gender differences in work-related outcomes. Broader knowledge can then be helpful in creating gender-specific return-to-work interventions.