"To have and then lose the safety net" - Female cancer survivors' experiences of the process of becoming ready to return to work

BACKGROUND: Validation studies have not been able to confirm the stage-specific understanding as operationalised in the readiness for return to work (RRTW) questionnaire.

OBJECTIVE: To explore retrospectively how working female cancer survivors experienced the process of becoming ready to RTW during and beyond participation in an occupational rehabilitation intervention and thereby expand the understanding of the RRTW construct.

METHODS: A qualitative research design was employed. Thirteen female cancer survivors were included for semi-structured interviews one to two years after they had completed active treatment and returned to work. The RRTW construct guided data generation and analysis. Content analysis was performed in four analytical steps that combined a concept-driven and a data-driven analytic strategy.

RESULTS: Three themes were identified; "To have and then lose the safety net", "Realise a changed life situation", "Strive to balance work and everyday life". In a time span of approximately one to two years (from receiving treatment, being enrolled in an intervention and to gradually returning to work); the identified themes were interdependent of each other as one theme gradually evolved to the next theme in the process of engaging in sustained work participation.

CONCLUSIONS: The present study points towards continuous development of the RRTW construct and whether the addition of a preparedness dimension would improve validity.