Breast Cancer Survivorship and Work Disability

Abstract

Breast cancer survivors can anticipate a number of years of paid labor market participation. Therefore, the link between breast cancer survivorship and productivity deserves serious consideration. The hypothesis guiding this study is that arm disability, particularly pain and range of motion limitations, are important explanatory variables in survivors’ loss of productivity. The study investigates the association between productivity and arm disability over time. The longitudinal data are drawn from survivors in four geographical locations in Canada. Regression results indicate that survivors with arm pain, 2.5 to 3 years postsurgery, are almost 8 times more likely to experience a loss in productivity compared to those survivors without pain, and those with some range of motion limitations are 4 times more likely to experience productivity loss 2.5 to 3 years postsurgery compared to their counterparts without limitations. More than 40% of survivors begin to or continue to experience productivity loss as long as 30 to 36 months after surgery and that the loss in productivity is primarily due to two forms of arm disability: pain and range-of-motion limitations. These findings highlight the importance of rehabilitation programming for breast cancer survivors.

Renegotiating hope while living with lymphoedema after cancer: a qualitative study

“…; Quinlan et al . ). Other research shows that even minimal increases in limb volume in BCRL have a negative impact on quality of life, although the authors note there are gaps in the literature (Cormier et al .…”

Loss, adaptation and new directions: The impact of arm morbidity on leisure activities following breast cancer

“…Health professionals, including nurses, occupational and physical therapists, should be forthcoming with advice about potential adjustments women may need to make to accommodate these changes with the goal of enabling meaningful leisure participation, as well as the beneficial changes in perspectives and values (Silver & Gilchrist, 2011). Further, nursing administrators may be positioned to promote access to comprehensive, person-centred, psychosocial and behavioural management and rehabilitation programs, which are needed to address the multiple and varied needs of women with arm morbidity after breast cancer (Davies & Batehup, 2010;Hack et al, 2010;Quinlan et al, 2011) within the broader context of new understandings of the impact of chronic illness and disability (Livneh & Antonak, 2005). Components of such programs could include: physiotherapy, occupational therapy, spiritual care, intimacy counselling, and nutritional counselling, as part of cancer survivorship care.…”

A longitudinal analysis of chronic arm morbidity following breast cancer surgery

“…While there are growing international efforts to screen for psychosocial needs of cancer survivors, and to physically manage AM, such as lymphedema, following BC surgery, what is lacking is an application of a comprehensive rehabilitation model to address the full broad scope of functional limitations arising from BC surgery and treatment [69][70][71]. Findings from the present study show that rehabilitation efforts should include helping a BC survivor learn compensatory coping behaviors to increase her ability to perform daily tasks and valued activities as well as encourage acceptance of the need to adopt different strategies for completion of tasks, i.e., help her define her ''new normal.''…”