Walking on thin ice: How cancer survivors manage disclosure at work

Abstract

Purpose: Work issues for cancer survivors are often not addressed, although many individuals are diagnosed during central years of employment. To examine the impact of dynamic factors on how survivors navigate disclosure about cancer at work, a semi-structured focus group study was conducted with 27 survivors.

Method: Grounded theory was implemented to develop a disclosure model.

Results: The disclosure model illustrates pre-disclosure processes, processes during disclosing, and potential outcomes of disclosure, including how perceptions of safety and choice affect the outlet, structure, and the emotional, cognitive, social, and behavioral effects of disclosure.

Conclusions: Survivors’ disclosure experiences are influenced by a complex interaction of factors at the level of the individual, social support system, work environment, and healthcare system, with perceptions of choice as key points of intervention by psycho-oncology providers.

Keywords:

• Cancer
• disclosure
• grounded theory
• qualitative research
• survivorship
• work

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Conflict of interest

We declare that there are no potential sources of conflict of interest.

Ethics statement

This study was submitted and approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Denver.