The Workplace Experiences of Breast Cancer Survivors: A Survey of an Online Community

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study attempted to examine those who experienced working after breast cancer diagnosis or job retention after timeoff or resignation. METHODS: Data collection and analysis were conducted using the biggest community website which contains articles written and discussed by breast cancer survivors. We used semantic network analysis to identify context of various keywords from collected 1,186 articles. After refining, we analyzed 212 keywords. Data were analyzed using two methodological approaches, ‘network analysis and data visualization’ (NodeXl & PFnet). RESULTS: As a result, 6 groups were classified; ‘conflict between breast cancer and job’, ‘difficulty of working and treatment parallel’, ‘breast cancer management while working’, ‘busy and hard life but showing gratitude’, ‘my body needs’, and ‘my heart needs’. We found that even though they had difficulties of working and treatment at the same time, they were thankful for their life. and they also reprogrammed their mind for more positive thinking through exercise for the health management and establishing a good eating habit. CONCLUSION: This paper will argue that we need to identify the experiences of cancer survivors. This allows the growth of the improvement working environment, the direction of policy, and the concern and understanding of nurses to needs of breast canner patients was definitely needed.