Breast cancer's impact on work life. Survey among women of the ELIPPSE cohort

Working people who are diagnosed with cancer must generally stop working, and returning to work after treatment is a very important issue for them. This article investigates the impact of cancer on professional trajectory among working women after a breast cancer diagnosis. We conducted in-depth interviews with 21 women from the ELIPPSE cohort. They were aged under 40 at cancer diagnosis, and they were interviewed from 16 months to 3 years after diagnosis. Several participants reported a deterioration of their professional situation even before they stopped working, with long-lasting consequences on their daily allowance. Others reported such deterioration during their sick leave. For all of them, returning to work after cancer treatment was very important, but they faced several obstacles. For example, some of them had to give up their former profession because of treatment side-effects. Moreover, the cancer experience frequently changed their attitude and expectations toward their working career. Finally, in order to find a new job these women were prone to hide their cancer experience and to resort to their social network (this network was also helpful to face the financial consequences of their sick leave).