Vocational Rehabilitation for the Return to Work of Breast Cancer Patients: a Feasibility Study (VocRehab)

May 4, 2026 updated by: Azienda USL Reggio Emilia - IRCCS

Multidisciplinary Vocational Rehabilitation Intervention to Support the Return to Work of Breast Cancer Patients: a Feasibility Study

In Italy, 50% of new breast cancer (BC) diagnosis occur in female of working age. Although return to work (RTW) is strongly desired by BC patients, cancer survivors are more likely to be unemployed than healthy individuals. Moreover, work difficulties may hindrance this process. Since 2018, the investigators have planned a local social-healthcare pathway which provides a multidisciplinary vocational rehabilitation intervention with the aim to help cancer survivors in their RTW process. To date, the feasibility of the multidisciplinary vocational rehabilitation interventions has not been verified for BC patients.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

BC is a public health burden with increasing trends in Western countries. In Italy, 50% of the new BC diagnosis have occurred in female of working age. Even though the return to work (RTW) is strongly desired, cancer survivors are 1.4 times more likely to be unemployed than healthy individuals. Furthermore, work difficulties may occur during this process. To promote the RTW, multidisciplinary interventions have shown moderate quality evidence in cancer survivors.

Since 2018, the investigators have planned a local social-healthcare pathway which provides a multidisciplinary vocational rehabilitation intervention with the aim to help cancer survivors in their RTW process. During the implementation of the pathway, BC patients were referred mainly by the physiotherapists of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Unit (PMRU). As standard care, BC patients can participate to an educational group session held by the physiotherapists after surgery. During this session, work difficulties have emerged.

Thus, the investigators aim to verify the feasibility of the multidisciplinary vocational rehabilitation intervention for a sample of BC patients whit work difficulties who will participate to an educational group session held by the physiotherapists.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

16

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Italy
    • Reggio Emilia
      • Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy, 42123
        • Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale Reggio Emilia

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 67 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • breast cancer diagnosis (regardless of stage and treatment)
  • breast cancer patients in working age
  • breast cancer patient who will participate to an educational group session held by the physiotherapists of the PMRU
  • breast cancer patients with work difficulties

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Breast cancer patients with work issues that cannot be addressed by any of the interventions (e.g., patients who would like to change their job)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: Breast cancer patients with work difficulties
Breast cancer patients with work difficulties can receive any of the three types of support, or a combination of these: information, occupational therapy and social support, in order to overcome barriers and return to work/continue to work
Other: Multidisciplinary vocational rehabilitation intervention
  • Information aims to provide tailored information concerning the work law protection (this support is already provided for all patients, regardless the type of disease, and also for citizens);
  • Occupational therapy aims to facilitate the reintegration in the previous workplace through the development of a rehabilitation intervention to overcome work difficulties in agreement with employee, employer and occupational physician,
  • Social support aims to find new job opportunities (for those who have lost the employment due to the disease) through the giving of support in job search, curriculum preparation, skill analysis, professional retraining and education.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
interception
Time Frame: 12 months
rate of patients who has been proposed to participate to the feasibility study
12 months
acceptation
Time Frame: 12 months
rate of patients (who has been proposed to participate to the feasibility study) who accept to participate
12 months
adherence
Time Frame: 12 months
rate of patients who participate in the scheduled meeting and in the multidisciplinary intervention proposed; rate of patients who agree to receive the intervention at the workplace (for those eligible)
12 months
lost to follow-up
Time Frame: 12 months
rate of patients who will not attend the scheduled meeting (drop-out rate set ≤ 20%)
12 months
satisfaction rate
Time Frame: 12 months
rate of patients who perceive the modules of the multidisciplinary intervention as supportive for their RTW or work continuation
12 months
RTW/work continuation
Time Frame: 12 months
rate of patients who participate in the study and who will RTW or continued to work
12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Azienda USL Reggio Emilia - IRCCS

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Sara Paltrinieri, Msc OT, Azienda USL Reggio Emilia - IRCCS

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

July 7, 2022

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 4, 2023

Study Completion (Estimated)

November 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 25, 2022

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 25, 2022

First Posted (Actual)

April 4, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 7, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 4, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2022/0035986

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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