Qualitative Assessment of Perceived Organizational Support for Employed Breast Cancer Survivors

Employed cancer survivors often have difficulty managing their health and work roles, but this stress may be reduced when they receive organizational support. Assessing survivors' specific needs for support is essential for developing relevant and targeted workplace best practices to improve worker well-being and workforce retention. ObjectiveA more detailed understanding of unmet organizational support needs and workplace-based best practices for supporting cancer survivors is needed.MethodsNinety-four working breast cancer survivors responded to an open-ended survey question regarding the desired types of organizational support that were and were not received during early survivorship. We performed content-analysis of qualitative data.ResultsMajor themes included instrumental support, emotional support, and time-based support. The need for flexible arrangements and reduced workloads was mostly met. Unmet needs included navigation/coordination, understanding/empathy, and time off for treatment and recovery.ConclusionsOrganizational support can help cancer survivors manage their health and work roles, diminishing work-health conflict and turnover intent. Study findings can be used to design targeted interventions to fulfill cancer survivors' unmet organizational support needs, which may also apply to workers with other chronic health conditions.