title: Return to work in sick-listed cancer survivors with job loss: design of a randomised controlled trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite long-term or permanent health problems, cancer survivors are often motivated to return to work. For cancer survivors who have lost their job, return to work can be more challenging compared to employed survivors, as they generally find themselves in a more vulnerable social and financial position. Cancer survivors with job loss may therefore be in need of tailored return to work support. However, there is a lack of return to work intervention programs specifically targeting these cancer survivors. The number of cancer survivors with job loss in developed countries is rising due to, amongst others, increases in the incidence and survivor rate of cancer, the retirement age and the proportion of flexible employment contracts. Hence, we consider it important to develop a tailored return to work intervention program for cancer survivors with job loss, and to evaluate its effectiveness compared to usual care.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study employs a two-armed randomised controlled trial with a follow-up period of 12 months. The study population (n = 164) will be recruited from a national sample of cancer survivors (18-60 years), who have been sick-listed for 12-36 months. Participants will be randomised by using computerized blocked randomisation (blocks of four). All participants will receive usual care as provided by the Dutch Social Security Agency. Additionally, participants in the intervention group will receive a tailored return to work intervention program, which includes vocational rehabilitation and supportive psychosocial components, as well as (therapeutic) placement at work. The primary outcome measure is duration until sustainable return to work; the secondary outcome measure is rate of return to work. Other parameters include, amongst others, fatigue, coping strategy and quality of life. We will perform Cox regression analyses to estimate hazard ratios for time to sustainable return to work.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The hypothesis of this study is that a tailored approach for cancer survivors with job loss is more effective, regarding return to work, compared to usual care. The results of this study will provide insight into the ways in which return to work can be facilitated for cancer survivors with job loss.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Netherlands Trial Register: NTR3562 .
authors.affiliation: Department of Public and Occupational Health, VU University Medical Center, EMGO+ Institute for Health and Care Research, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. ma.vanegmond@vumc.nl.|Dutch Research Center for Insurance Medicine, AMC-UMCG-UWV-VUmc, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. ma.vanegmond@vumc.nl.
authors.forename: Martine P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: van Egmond
authors.affiliation: Department of Public and Occupational Health, VU University Medical Center, EMGO+ Institute for Health and Care Research, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. s.duijts@vumc.nl.|Department of Psychosocial Research and Epidemiology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. s.duijts@vumc.nl.
authors.forename: Saskia F A
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Duijts
authors.affiliation: Department of Public and Occupational Health, VU University Medical Center, EMGO+ Institute for Health and Care Research, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. sylvia.vermeulen0@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Sylvia J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Vermeulen
authors.affiliation: Department of Public and Occupational Health, VU University Medical Center, EMGO+ Institute for Health and Care Research, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. a.vanderbeek@vumc.nl.|Dutch Research Center for Insurance Medicine, AMC-UMCG-UWV-VUmc, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. a.vanderbeek@vumc.nl.
authors.forename: Allard J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: van der Beek
authors.affiliation: Department of Public and Occupational Health, VU University Medical Center, EMGO+ Institute for Health and Care Research, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. h.anema@vumc.nl.|Dutch Research Center for Insurance Medicine, AMC-UMCG-UWV-VUmc, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. h.anema@vumc.nl.
authors.forename: Johannes R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Anema
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D009426:Netherlands; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011788:Quality of Life; D012050:Rehabilitation, Vocational / Q000379:methods*; D062707:Return to Work / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018582:Sick Leave / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult