Comparing men's and women's experiences of work after cancer: a photovoice study

Work is an important quality of life indicator for many cancer survivors. There is, however, a lack of appropriate support to help survivors with work integration. As a result, many survivors are forced to independently navigate their return to work, experiencing unnecessary pitfalls in the process. As a preliminary step toward addressing this current gap in survivorship support, we explored the work integration experiences of 20 cancer survivors, 10 women and 10 men.

Photovoice methods were combined with two individual interviews per participant. Participant-produced photographs and interview transcripts were analyzed to identify key themes.

Both commonalities and gender-differentiated motivations underlying work integration emerged. Female and male participants both demonstrated and discussed differentiated manners of coping. Men expressed a propensity for productivity and active engagements over talking used predominantly by women.

Appreciation of men's proclivity for productivity and activity suggests that a gender-tailored approach to rehabilitation may enhance male survivors' participation and the utility of rehabilitation efforts.