Clinical trial · Interventional
Testing the Effectiveness of a Work Rehabilitation Intervention for Women with Breast Cancer
Examining the Effectiveness, and Cost-effectiveness, of CanWork, a Self-management Intervention to Support Women with Breast Cancer to Return to Work
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Women with breast cancer make up a significant proportion of cancer survivors, with more than 43,750 women living with breast cancer in Ireland. However, many women report physical and psychological health difficulties that interfere with their ability to return to work. In Ireland, and internationally, these difficulties are being increasingly recognised, with recent research identifying gaps in rehabilitation services to prepare women with breast cancer to return to work. Collaborating with women with breast cancer, and those who provide health and supportive services to individuals living with cancer in Ireland, an online self-management intervention, CanWork, was developed. CanWork aims to support women with breast cancer to manage the process of returning to work and learn strategies to manage post-treatment health-related difficulties. CanWork also provides information on workplace entitlements. This intervention was trialled with women with breast cancer in 2021, who reported that the programme gave them confidence to return to work and that the content was relevant. This study will include a larger group of women with breast cancer to determine if CanWork is effective in supporting return to work. To do this, 248 women with breast cancer will be included in the study, half of whom will receive CanWork and the results will be compared with women who do not receive the intervention. Having a programme that is financially viable is important and therefore the costs involved in running and attending the intervention will also be calculated. Should this study demonstrate that CanWork is effective in supporting women with breast cancer to return to work, the study team will collaborate with cancer services in Ireland to make the programme available nationally.
Conditions
Conditions (1)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breast Cancer | Malignant Breast Neoplasm | CURATED_EXACT | 0.92 |
Interventions
Interventions (1)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| CanWork | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Intervention arm
- description
- The intervention arm will receive an online occupational therapy intervention, CanWork, to increase knowledge and skills of women with breast cancer to manage cancer-related symptoms that interfere with return to work. It consists of five, 90-minute group-based modules and an individual meeting between the occupational therapist facilitator and each participant. Each of the group-based modules consists of two components. The first component focuses on education and peer-led discussion of cancer-related symptom management and supports available to manage difficulties in work. Topics covered each week include managing fatigue in work, understanding cancer-related cognitive impairments, strategies for managing physical and mental health in work and effective communication with employers and colleagues.
- interventionNames
- Other: CanWork
- type
- NO_INTERVENTION
- label
- Comparator group
- description
- This group will act as a comparison group to the intervention arm. Study participants (women with breast cancer) in this group will not receive the CanWork intervention but will receive standard supportive care provided in their local community cancer support centre
Primary outcomes (2)
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- Female
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
- Maximum age
- 70 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * Women with confirmed diagnosis of breast cancer * Women with breast cancer who were in paid employment prior to their cancer diagnosis * Women with breast cancer who have completed adjuvant oncology treatment (excluding hormone therapy, targeted and biological therapies) within the last 12 months * Women with breast cancer who have capacity to participate in a six-week online occupational therapy intervention Exclusion Criteria: * Women with metastatic breast cancer * Women with breast cancer who were not in paid employment prior to their cancer diagnosis * Women with breast cancer who have decided not to return to work following completion of cancer treatment * Women with breast cancer who have co-morbidity that would interfere with capacity to participate in a six-week online occupational therapy intervention
References
Publications (1)
- DERIVEDPallin ND, Algeo N, O'Connor ME, Connolly H, Lowry M, Bennett K, Gillespie P, Hobbins A, Gallagher P, Mullen L, Lyons KD, McHugh SM, Connolly D. A cluster randomised controlled trial to test the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a self-management intervention to support women with breast cancer to return to work: A study protocol. Contemp Clin Trials. 2026 Feb;161:108185. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2025.108185. Epub 2025 Dec 15. PMID 41407101