Canadian Self-Employed Experience in Returning to Work Following Cancer

Nearly one in two Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lifetime, but due to advances in early detection and treatment, mortality of cancers is on the decline with over 60% of those diagnosed with cancer surviving. Self-employed cancer survivors remain an understudied group with the majority of the literature focusing on salaried cancer survivors, despite self-employed workers accounting for 15% of the Canadian workforce. The lack of research on self-employed survivors means that the barriers and facilitators of remaining or returning to work following cancer remain relatively unknown. The study will be completed by interviewing 25 Canadian self-employed cancer survivors who have remained or returned to work following a cancer diagnosis. Data will be collected during semi-structured phone or zoom interviews of 45 to 60 minutes will be conducted guided by the Vocational Rehabilitation Model for cancer survivors. Interviews will be transcribed verbatim and a continuous, comparative method will be used to code and analyze data of the 25 interviews. The goal of the study is to describe the unique experiences and strategies of self-employed Canadian cancer survivors with remaining or returning to work following cancer. Interviews will explore (1) the overall experiences while remaining at or returning to work; (2) work-related barriers and facilitating factors while remaining at or returning to work; (3) work accommodations employed to address the barriers; and (4) the impact of COVID-19 on cancer survivors ability to remain or return to work. The analyzed data will be used to develop future interventions to support self-employed cancer survivors with remaining or returning to work following cancer.