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Birkbeck research team calls for closer look at workplace support for breast cancer patients

New report findings indicate that supportive employers protect against depression and improve the quality of life in women with breast cancer.

photo of women working

A new study led by researchers at Birkbeck Centre for Building Resilience in Breast Cancer (BRiC), published in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship, finds that women with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) can benefit from employers who are supportive and understanding of their needs as a better quality of working life was met with reduced levels of depression in this population.

Breast cancer is the biggest cause of cancer worldwide with a third of women with early-stage breast cancer developing secondary breast cancer (or metastatic breast cancer, MBC) which involves the spread of cancer to other organs, and is incurable.

Quality of life is heavily impacted in MBC and depression alone can increase the risk of cancer-related and all-cause mortality in these women by up to 30%.

The research, which was based on a series of online questionnaires completed by women with a diagnosis of secondary breast cancer in the UK, measured the cognitive and emotional health of women, as well as their experience of employers after their secondary breast cancer diagnosis and quality of working life. It found that women’s experience with employers after their secondary diagnosis related to better quality of working life which in turn predicted better overall quality of life and reduced depression.

Professor Nazanin Derakshan, founder of BRiC, said, “BRiC’s previous research has shown that workability can promote emotional resilience in women with primary breast cancer, especially younger women who can have full-time careers prior to diagnosis. The current research adds significantly by documenting this effect in metastatic breast cancer. Our results should be communicated with our colleagues in human resources who no doubt can help improve women’s experience and quality of working life which will, in turn, promote their workability and longer-term sustainment of work, should they wish to continue working after diagnosis”.

The researchers believe their findings could have crucial implications for the long-term health outcomes for these women. To that end, they are asking for more educational and support resources to be put in place to enable these women to make required work-based adaptations and further help employers strengthen their understanding and awareness of the needs of women living with secondary breast cancer.

Bethany Chapman, a PhD student at Birkbeck’s Centre for Building Resilience in Breast Cancer (BRiC), who conducted the study under the supervision of Professors Nazanin Derakshan and Beth Grunfeld said: “This is the first study in the UK to substantiate the relationship between poorer quality of working life and escalating levels of cognitive vulnerability and emotional vulnerability to depression, as well as to show the importance of an employers’ response in determining the quality of working life for women with a diagnosis of secondary breast cancer.

Research on women living with secondary breast cancer is highly scarce, despite there being approximately 35,000 women with this diagnosis in the UK, a figure that is expected to increase given medical advances.

Professor Grunfeld said “This study is so important because the experiences of women with a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is often missing from the research literature. This study provides a voice for women living with MBC and demonstrates the importance of experiences at work to their quality of life and cognitive and mental wellbeing”.

Further Information

Access the research paper at Journal of Cancer Survivorship (Chapman, B., Grunfeld, E.A. & Derakshan, N. Quality of working life can protect against cognitive and emotional vulnerability in women living with metastatic breast cancer: a cross-sectional study. J Cancer Surviv (2022).

Read more about the Building Resilience in Breast Cancer Centre.

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