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A multidisciplinary working model for promoting return to work of cancer survivors

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Abstract

Background

Despite wide recognition of the necessity of an integrative maintenance and return to work (RTW) program for cancer survivors, no such program has been described in the literature.

Aims

To examine a working model of an integrative multidisciplinary health care approach for promoting RTW, using the Delphi method.

Methods

A working model for promoting cancer survivors’ RTW by oncology health professionals was subjected to two rounds of evaluation by an expert panel in accordance with the Delphi research method. Twenty-six international experts in oncology (social workers, nurses, psychologists, physicians, and cancer patients) participated in the first round and 16 participated in the second round.

Results

The mean score of the working model’s applicability was 6.07 (SD = 1.07, range = 1–7). The model outlines in detail an integrative approach for promotion of RTW according to two axes: the oncology health professionals’ role and the timeline axis featuring four stages of oncology treatment and follow-up.

Conclusions

Our proposed model addresses the need for an integrated program that may increase the rate of RTW and improve the quality of life of cancer survivors. The model should be subjected to further evaluation, especially its adaptability to different health systems in different countries.

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Data availability

The materials are available in Zenodo (identifier 10.5281/zenodo.4090338).

Code availability

N/A.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the experts that participated in the study and contributed to the development of the working model.

Funding

This study was funded by the Israel National Institute for Health Policy Research (grant #45839).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave., Mount Carmel, 3498838, Haifa, Israel

    Miri Cohen

  2. Department of Human Services, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Dana Yagil

  3. School of Public Health, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Rafael Carel

Authors
  1. Miri Cohen
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  2. Dana Yagil
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  3. Rafael Carel
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by MC and DY. The first draft of the manuscript was written by MC, and all authors commented on the various versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Miri Cohen.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

Approval was obtained from the ethics committee of the University of Haifa.

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study (#323/16).

Consent for publication

Consent to publish was obtained.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Cohen, M., Yagil, D. & Carel, R. A multidisciplinary working model for promoting return to work of cancer survivors. Support Care Cancer 29, 5151–5160 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06074-3

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