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Research Article

The Lived Experience of Women Returning to Work after Breast Cancer

¹ Maggi Banning, School of Health Sciences and Social Care, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, England

² Elizabeth Griffths, School of Health Sciences and Social Care, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, E

*Corresponding Author:

Maggi Banning
School of Health Sciences and Social Care
Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, England
Tel: 01895268828
E-mail: Maggi.Banning@brunel.ac.uk

Received date: April 08, 2014; Accepted date: May 08, 2014; Published date: May 15, 2014

Citation: Maggi B, Elizabeth G (2014) The Lived Experience of Women Returning to Work after Breast Cancer. Occup Med Health Aff 2:159. doi: 10.4172/2329-6879.1000159

Copyright: © 2014 Banning M, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Breast cancer is a global concern and a common cancer in women. Treatment can involve chemotherapy, surgical intervention with possible radiation therapy. Many breast cancer survivors return to work, even though the availability of health care and occupational health services may be limited. This phenomenological study examined the return to work experience of six breast cancer survivors. In-depth, unstructured interviews were undertaken and analysed using an adapted version of Colaizzi’s (1978) approach. Four themes emerged. Women noted that the impact of their disease on their work continued for some time. Some women gained an inner strength to progress their career on return to work. The provision of occupational health services emerged as a positive influence. These findings have implications for occupational health professionals, particularly the importance of positively supporting women so that the breast cancer return to work experience is fully understood.

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