2020 Volume 86 Issue 2 Pages 65-74
Objectives: This study aimed to assess the sense of difficulty in providing support for balancing cancer treatment and work among occupational health nurses (OHNs).
Methods: Based on our previous qualitative study, we established a questionnaire including 11 items about the sense of difficulty in providing support to workers with cancer and their workplaces. The questionnaire was distributed to OHNs by mail. The 4-point Likert scale was used to obtain a higher score associated with a higher degree of difficulty. Factor analysis of the 11 items was conducted, and the difficulty score was calculated for each factor. To compare the difficulty scores among the factors, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was conducted after the Friedman test. Rank correlation analysis was used to identify the relationship between the sense of difficulty and other variables.
Results: The sense of difficulty was divided into the following four factors: difficulty in supporting along with the feelings of the worker with cancer, difficulty in collaborating with people concerned outside the company, difficulty in supporting the supervisors and workplaces, and difficulty in collaboration within the company. Significant difference among the factors was detected by Freidman test. Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed that the second factor showed significantly higher difficulty score than others. A significant association was observed between greater sense of difficulty and less implementation of support.
Discussion: Collaboration with people outside the company, such as hospital staffs and family members, seemed to be the most difficult activities for OHNs. Development of training programs based on this study will help OHNs overcome these difficulties and promote support to balance cancer treatment and work.
