Work adjustment of cancer survivors: An organisational support framework

SA Journal of Industrial Psychology

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Work adjustment of cancer survivors: An organisational support framework
 
Creator Clur, Loraine Barnard, Antoni Joubert, Yvonne T.
 
Subject employee wellbeing cancer survivor; cancer employee; work adjustment; return to work; RTW
Description Orientation: Medical advancements increase incidents of cancer survivors returning to work. Work adjustment of cancer survivors is essential for job satisfaction and productivity and should be supported and facilitated by the organisation.Research purpose: The purpose of the study was to explore cancer survivors’ return to work experience in order to explicate organisational support needed to facilitate their successful work adjustment.Motivation for the study: Despite the growing awareness of cancer survivorship, the challenges, expectations and management of the return to work process remain under researched.Research approach, design and method: Heidegger’s hermeneutic phenomenology formed the methodological foundation to the study. Purposive sampling was used to select eight participants from an oncology unit and cancer support organisation in the Southern Cape and Little Karoo regions. Participants, diagnosed with various types of cancer, were regarded as cancer survivors as they completed treatment and have returned to work. Data were collected using unstructured interviews and analysed through thematic analysis based on Ricoeur’s hermeneutic phenomenological theory of interpretation.Main findings: Results highlight four themes representing cancer survivors’ needs for organisational support. The support needs are presented in the context of the theory of work adjustment in a hierarchical schema that evolves from a basic need for emotion-focussed support to the need for knowledge and for practical guidance. Support needs culminate in the need for self-actualisation through meaning-making. An organisational support framework is proposed consisting of four integrated functions aimed at addressing the needs that emerged from the data.Practical and managerial implications: The organisational support framework provides guidance to develop an organisational policy and intervention strategy aimed at managing the successful work adjustment of the cancer survivor.Contribution or value-add: The study presents original research, contributing to the body of knowledge regarding cancer survivors returning to work, and introduces a new area of research in the discipline of industrial and organisational psychology.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2017-11-20
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajip.v43i0.1468
 
Source SA Journal of Industrial Psychology; Vol 43 (2017); 10 pages 2071-0763 0258-5200
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajip.co.za/index.php/sajip/article/view/1468/2192 https://sajip.co.za/index.php/sajip/article/view/1468/2191 https://sajip.co.za/index.php/sajip/article/view/1468/2193 https://sajip.co.za/index.php/sajip/article/view/1468/2184
 
Coverage — — age 28-59; 2 male; 6 female; 2 Coloured; 1 Black; 5 White
Rights Copyright (c) 2017 Loraine Clur, Antoni Barnard, Yvonne T. Joubert https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
ADVERTISEMENT