Pink Monday offers advice and support on returning to work after cancer

Returning to work after cancer among self-employed people is more difficult than among wage earners, according to new research by the VUB commissioned by Riziv and the Foundation Against Cancer (1). According to VUB professor of Health and Medical Psychology and Primary Care Psychology Elke Van Hoof, this is due to the (financial) uncertainty and the mismatch between the legal systems and the reality of people with self-employed status. Research shows that self-employed people continue to work longer if they are already sick, stay sick longer afterwards and relapse more often.

Self-employed people who experience cancer also continue to work longer and resume work more quickly, for financial reasons as well as because they say they live for a cause. In doing so, they sometimes outrun themselves.

Pink Ribbon previously pointed out that breast cancer patients with a self-employed status also tend to pick up the thread of their professional life more quickly. For them, as well as for people with a white-collar status, the non-profit organization provides support through the Pink Monday project, which offers tools and practical information to help former cancer patients get back to work. The non-profit organization also approaches employers to pay attention to breast cancer patients. Through its "Pink is the new blue" campaign, Pink Ribbon makes breast cancer a topic of discussion in the workplace.

(1) Research VUB Prof. Dr. Elke Van Hoof: 'Self-employed recover more difficult from cancer due to poor alignment of social security system with their reality'