Cancer in the workplace is a topic that causes fear, uncertainty, and sometimes also shame and many other emotions. This applies not only to the person struggling with cancer, but also to their colleagues and employer. How to behave in such a situation? Should the sick person report their illness? Marcelina Dzięciołowska talks to psycho-oncologist Adrianna Sobol.
Marcelina Dzięciołowska: Patients who receive a cancer diagnosis ask how it will be next. There are questions about what the treatment will look like, sooner or later the patient also asks what will happen with his work. After all, work, contrary to appearances, is a very important element in the life of every person.
Adrianna Sobol, MA, psycho-oncologist:Work, although we curse it sometimes and hate it, it becomes really very important in the face of a chronic disease. At work, we fulfill ourselves, build self-esteem, it gives us a sense of security, fulfillment and financial stability. So an important question appears in the patient's head: "Will I be able to work?"
A few good years ago I wanted to conduct training in a corporation on how to be a good support in the face of a chronic disease, difficult he alth situation, and I have often heard from the HR department or employers that everyone in their company is he althy and no one gets sick. Then I thought it was quite a fake and that patients simply wouldn't admit they were ill.
Why?
Because of fear. They are afraid of losing their jobs. It all changes step by step. Illness in the workplace affects us in different spaces. There may be a sick employee who wants or does not want to work - in such a situation there must be space to talk about it. Another example is a colleague who is sitting next to a friend who just came to work today in a headscarf and he does not know how to behave.
The emotions of a co-worker also have a huge impact on the patient's situation. On top of all this, the caregiver of the sick person - if our child, husband or parent is ill, it also influences the functioning of such a person in the workplace.
And on top of all this, there is a manager who also has to manage this situation, maintain fairness at work, be able to properly know about itto talk, not to create a taboo topic. He also struggles with his own emotions and fears.
The truth is that we are all afraid of mortality, we are afraid of illness or accident, a situation that will change our thinking, he alth and functioning.
So the problem is in many cases the lack of adequate preparation for such a difficult, unusual situation?
There are many issues for which employees and employers are simply not prepared. Access to modern therapeutic forms enables patients nowadays to maintain their professional activity. It allows these patients to be active, which translates into their emotional rehabilitation, into a sense of security, and allows them to stay in their normal daily rhythm.
You wrote about it in your book, right?
In the book"Tame the cancer",which I wrote with Agnieszka Matolicz-Witkowicz, there is a chapter on professional activity. First of all, it says that you have to be honest in all this and honestly assess your ability to be professionally active.
And if the patient hides his illness?
Hiding this topic is not a good direction. There are also some patients who need to stop, cut off, focus only on themselves, so these stories are very different.
How do you think it should look like?
In a he althy enterprise, the topic of cancer does not become a taboo subject, it is open to the patient and to discuss what is best for both the workplace and the patient.
I remember a meeting organized by the OnkoCafe Foundation. This was a workshop that my patient, who had breast cancer, attended. Half of the office came with her! Something so beautiful, brave and so enormous support cannot be put into words. They came to find out how to be this support, learn how to organize this support, what to say and what not to say, what words to watch out for and many other aspects.
It is a real act of courage, both on the part of the patient and her colleagues!
It was so beautiful and so empowering. It was a relatively small office, this patient did not quit her job, despite the fact that she was treated systemically, had chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy, i.e. multi-stage treatment. She lost her hair during radiotherapy and it was the moment when she came to work in a scarf, all co-workers were also wearing scarves. They did it to show her that they are with her, that she is beautiful, that she is a colleague from work and that she should not be ashamed of it.
Like suchsupport works for the patient?
It builds the sick person's motivation to heal himself, to return to his old life. This is really the biggest thing.
Once I was able to do a training in a large pharmaceutical company - I think it all started with them. They introduced an action in their branches around the world for the sake of a sick employee and to be open to it. I remember when I did the training for line managers, they thanked me for this training, although they admitted that touching such topics is quite difficult and it is not easy to talk about it, especially since they are always "loaded" with work, but it was the first training that hit their needs.
It is worth bearing in mind that the fact that we are he althy today does not mean that in the future we will also not be patients with a chronic disease. Such training undoubtedly brings benefits for the entire team.
It is something that builds great value and the workplace itself, as a he althy enterprise, but also gives, of course, great support for the patient and his family.
If the patient is busy not only with being ill, but also with professional tasks, this translates into his emotional state, his attitude to treatment and many other aspects that affect the effectiveness of treatment.
Have you ever met a situation where a chronically ill patient was dismissed because of his illness?
Of course, there are situations where companies are completely unprepared for a sick employee, sometimes companies that lay off employees and these are huge tragedies, situations when the patient struggles not only with the disease, but also with some rejection.
I now have a patient who is a doctor and runs my clinic with another doctor. Upon receiving the diagnosis of cancer, the partner said that, in line with the diagnosis and prognosis, she immediately wanted my patient to sell her shares. The woman in the office didn't talk about the disease. She came forward because someone else pronounced a sentence on her, someone who was supposed to be the closest person, someone with whom she spent 20 years building a business.
The mere loss of a job is always something unimaginably difficult. In the face of a serious disease, it must be a huge blow!
Losing your job is in the top ten of the biggest crises in life, and the combination of illness and job loss takes into account the tremendous fears it entails.
A new portal, "Caring for a sick employee", is being created on your initiative. Can you tell me more about this project?
This is itportal for all chronically ill patients. At the moment, we focus on oncology, obesity, depression and many other chronic diseases. It is to be a portal for everyone and it is to operate in many ways. In order for the patient to be able to maintain his professional activity, he must have access to modern therapeutic forms, modern forms of diagnostics and forms of medicine. Also, doctors who admit such patients must be open-minded, they must cheer on patients who want to remain professionally active, giving them a choice, and not immediately issuing a sick leave.
There will also be a lot of advice on the HR department, labor law, accounting, and the history of patients who, in the face of illness, have completely reformatted the way they function in their work, and often changed industries. There will be support from psychologists, lawyers, HR specialists who will talk about the fact that the sick employee is still a full-fledged person, that they can apply for a new job, change jobs, get promoted and many, many more.
I will be inviting specialists, patient organizations and, of course, the patients themselves to this platform in order to build something that I think will become openness and show that work is important, and often even more important in the face of illness.
This can be a huge success for patients as well as employers. I hope that the news about this idea will spread further and will contribute to a change in attitude and awaken openness to talking about the disease and the needs that result from it, without disturbing the balance in professional life.
Nobody taught us at school how to talk to a terminally ill person, how to behave when a patient announces that he or she is sick. This will be the space to do this.
Thank you for the interview.
Expert
Adrianna Sobol, psycho-oncologist, lecturer at the Medical University of Warsaw Psycho-oncologist and lecturer at the Medical University of Warsaw at the Department of Oncological Prevention. He works at the LuxMed Oncology Cancer Hospital in Warsaw. She is a member of the Board of the OnkoCafe Foundation - Together Better, a psychotherapist and founder of the Ineo Psychological Support Center. Has created an online training platform He alth Begins In The Head. Author of numerous publications in the field of psycho-oncology and he alth psychology. Co-author of the book "Tame cancer. Inspirational stories and a guide to emotions" (Znak, 2022). She acts as an expert in television programs, co-creates campaigns and social campaigns. He conducts numerous trainings and workshops in the field of psychology and personal development.
Read also:
- Psychooncology: the path to cancer acceptance
- Psychooncology: emotions in cancer and their impact on treatment
- Psychooncology and modern forms of cancer therapy
- Psycho-oncology: is there life after cancer?
- Psychooncology: Sexuality in the face of cancer
Marcelina Dzięciołowska Editor for many years associated with the medical industry. He specializes in he alth and an active lifestyle. A private passion for psychology inspires her to take up difficult topics in this field. Author of a series of interviews in the field of psycho-oncology, the aim of which is to build awareness and break stereotypes about cancer. He believes that the right mental attitude can work wonders, therefore he promotes professional knowledge based on consultations with specialists.