Abstract P4-11-14: Importance of work and work-related needs among survivors living with metastatic breast cancer

Abstract Background: Survivors living with metastatic cancer may continue to work. Up to 35% report working at least part-time. 1 There is a knowledge gap regarding the reasons and priorities driving the decisions about continuing to work while living with metastatic cancer. By 2020, the US population of individuals living with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) was projected to exceed 165,000. 2 Thus, it is necessary to understand and to explore the importance of work and information needs, in order to develop interventions to address MBC survivors’ employment-related needs. Objective: To explore the importance of work and characterize the information needs among survivors living with MBC. Methods: We conducted an online survey assessing work-related needs and motivations, between November 2014 and February 2015, using a MBC listserv and clinic flyers. Respondents who worked at the time of MBC diagnosis were divided into “stably-working” and “no-longer-working” based on employment status at the time of the survey. Comparisons between the two groups were made with chi-square or two-tailed t-test. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. The study obtained Institutional Review Board approval. Results: Respondents (n=133) were predominantly non-Hispanic White (93.2%), with a college degree (72.7%). The majority of stably-working women (80.5%) considered work to be important due to financial and/or insurance reasons (80.4%), the importance of staying busy (67.9%), and the desire to support themselves and family (64.3%). Among those no-longer-working who stated that work was unimportant (47,6%), the work became less important since the diagnosis of MBC. The stably-working group valued information on how to talk with employers or co-workers about diagnosis, legal rights in the workplace, when to think about stopping work, and applying for disability. Among those no-longer-working, information on Medicare and/or Medicaid and spirituality were deemed important. Conclusion: Assessing the employment needs of survivors with MBC is important. It can be a continuous process as the disease progresses, and maintenance of employment and priorities may change. Thus, offering resources to empower survivors living with MBC to manage their employment issues earlier in the disease trajectory is needed, particularly considering that unemployment and financial burden can adversely affect health-related quality of life and increase distress. 3 Table 1.Sociodemographic and importance of work among women with MBCStably-workingNo-longer-working(n=72)(n=61)Age, Mean (SD) **49.5 (8.3)54.0 (8.1)Time from MBC diagnosis (yr), Mean (SD) **3.3 (3.4)4.6 (4.0)Highest level of education, %Less than college23.931.2College graduate29.637.7Post-graduate or professional degree46.531.2Household income, %≤$75,00047.242.6$75,001-150,00029.237.7≥ $150,00118.19.8Unknown or prefer not to answer5.69.8RaceWhite98.693.4Black03.3Asian00Other1.43.3Prefer not to answer1.41.6Ethnicity (Spanish/Hispanic/Latino origin) %Yes03.3No97.296.7Prefer not to answer2.80Current importance of work, %**Extremely important33.31.6Very important47.227.9Neither important nor unimportant5.623Somewhat unimportant8.314.8Not at all important5.632.8Reasons why work is important %(n=56)(n=18)Success is important to me30.438.9It means a lot for me to be able to support myself/my family64.350It is important that I have a worthwhile job60.772.2It is necessary for financial and/or insurance reasons80.461.1Work is an important part of my social life48.266.7Staying busy is important to me67.972.2Other14.316.7Reasons why work is unimportant %(n=10)(n=29)Work has never been very important to me03.5Work is less important to me since being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer*10055.2Work is not important because I do not need to work for financial reasons1037.9Work is not important because I do not need to work for insurance reasons3034.5Work is not important because it does not provide social support06.9Other5041.4Comparison between stably-working and no-longer-working groups using t-test for continuous variables and chi-square test for categorical variables; *p<0.05; **p<0.01. Citation Format: Cibele B. Carroll, Mary E. Sesto, Xiao Zhang, Karen B. Chen, Abigail Terhaar, Athena S. Wilson, Amye J. Tevaarwerk. Importance of work and work-related needs among survivors living with metastatic breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2021 Dec 7-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-11-14.