Disclosures: Matthew Tay, FRCP: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Objective: To investigate the return to work outcomes of patients with cancer undergoing a community-based return to work program in a cancer rehabilitation center.

Design: Retrospective cohort study involving patients with cancer.

Setting: Outpatient community-based rehabilitation center.

Participants: Eligible patients were cancer survivors 21-65 years old, had been in paid employment prior to cancer diagnosis and were treated and were enrolled in the return to work rehabilitation program. Patients were excluded if they had retired, had severe cognitive or physical impairment limiting rehabilitation or refused to participate.

Interventions: Community-based interdisciplinary vocational rehabilitation program involving physiatrists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and social workers.

Main Outcome Measures: Work resumption was the primary outcome measure. We also investigated perceived work ability evaluated with the Work Ability Index (WAI).

Results: This study recruited 63 patients who joined the rehabilitation program. The average age was 53.2 years old. The majority of the study population were shared breadwinners (65.1%). Most patients were previously in white collar jobs (74.6%), and working full time (93.7%). The study population had varying levels of primary (22.2%), secondary (38.1%) and tertiary (39.7%) education. After undergoing the rehabilitation program, there were 37 (58.7%) participants who successfully returned to work. These participants returned to work at either within 6 months (27.0%), 6-12 months (29.7%) or 12-24 months (43.2%) after enrollment into the program, with a majority enrolling in white collar jobs. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that significant factors for return to work were lower BFI scores (p=0.002) and a higher perceived work ability (p=0.001).

Conclusions: We report a successful return to work rate of nearly half of all cancer patients enrolled in a multidisciplinary, outpatient-based community-based rehabilitation program. Further studies are required to determine the optimal duration of rehabilitation and type of interventions to address identified barriers to successful work rehabilitation.

Level of Evidence: Level III

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/return-to-work-outcomes-in-a-community-based-cancer-rehabilitation-program/