Associations of formal and informal organizational support with employed cancer survivors’ intent to stay

Cancer has broad effects on survivors, including on their employment and work ability, defined as the capacity to carry out job demands. When organizations provide informal social support and formal support policies, survivors’ work ability and intent to remain with their employer may be enhanced. We hypothesized positive associations between two forms of support (formal, informal) and survivors’ intent to stay, with work ability as a potential mediator of this pathway.

An online cross-sectional survey was administered between May 2017 and October 2018 to working breast cancer survivors who completed primary treatment within 36 months. We conducted ordinary least square regressions path analysis to test hypothesized associations. Percentile bootstrap estimation approach was used with 10,000 samples to test indirect effects.

Respondents (n = 157) had a mean age of 51 and were mostly female (98%), White and Non-Hispanic (85%), married or partnered (74%), and college educated (78%). Hypothesis testing showed statistically significant direct effects between both informal and formal support and intent to stay, as well as indirect effects whereby work ability partially mediated the relationship between both types of support and intent to stay.

In a sample of breast cancer survivors, we showed a novel association between organizational support and intent to stay through work ability. Employer initiatives and structures that provide increased informal and formal support may enhance employment sustainability among cancer survivors by helping them to meet job demands and perform effectively.

We provide evidence that both formal and informal organizational support are associated with cancer survivors’ work ability and intent to remain employed, offering insights that may inform future workplace research, policies, and support programs aimed at improving employment sustainability after cancer.