Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23768153›Full record

Trial reportTrials2013

Case management vocational rehabilitation for women with breast cancer after surgery: a feasibility study incorporating a pilot randomised controlled trial.

Gill Hubbard, Nicola M Gray, Dolapo Ayansina, Josie M M Evans, Richard G Kyle

Abstract readMulticenter StudyRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Trials, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
34citing papers in PubMed, 9 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

34 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Non-medical interventions to enhance return to work for people with cancer.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024
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  6. Return to Work Interventions for Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review and a Methodological Critique.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019
    Pooled it
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  8. Workplace interventions to prevent work disability in workers on sick leave.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015
    Pooled it
  9. Interventions to enhance return-to-work for cancer patients.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015
    Pooled it
  10. A multidisciplinary intervention to support return to work of individuals with breast cancer: a prospective feasibility study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Gill HubbardCancer Care Research Centre, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, University of Stirling, Highland Campus, Centre for Health Science, Old Perth Road, Inverness IV2 3JH, UK. gill.hubbard@stir.ac.uk
Nicola M Gray
Dolapo Ayansina
Josie M M Evans
Richard G Kyle

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThere is a paucity of methodologically robust vocational rehabilitation (VR) intervention trials. This study assessed the feasibility and acceptability of a VR trial of women with breast cancer to inform the development of a larger interventional study.

methodsWomen were recruited in Scotland and randomised to either a case management VR service or to usual care. Data were collected on eligibility, recruitment and attrition rates to assess trial feasibility, and interviews conducted to determine trial acceptability. Sick leave days (primary outcome) were self-reported via postal questionnaire every 4 weeks during the first 6 months post-surgery and at 12 months. Secondary outcome measures were change in employment pattern, quality of life and fatigue.

resultsOf the 1,114 women assessed for eligibility, 163 (15%) were eligible. The main reason for ineligibility was age (>65 years, n = 637, 67%). Of those eligible, 111 (68%) received study information, of which 23 (21%) consented to participate in the study. Data for 18 (78%) women were analysed (intervention: n = 7; control: n = 11). Participants in the intervention group reported, on average, 53 fewer days of sick leave over the first 6 months post-surgery than those in the control group; however, this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.122; 95% confidence interval -15.8, 122.0). No statistically significant differences were found for secondary outcomes. Interviews with trial participants indicated that trial procedures, including recruitment, randomisation and research instruments, were acceptable.

conclusionsConducting a pragmatic trial of effectiveness of a VR intervention among cancer survivors is both feasible and acceptable, but more research about the exact components of a VR intervention and choice of outcomes to measure effectiveness is required. VR to assist breast cancer patients in the return to work process is an important component of cancer survivorship plans.

trial registrationISRCTN29666484.

Indexed as

Case ManagementRehabilitation, VocationalResearch DesignReturn to WorkAbsenteeismAdolescentAdultAgedBreast NeoplasmsEligibility DeterminationFatigueFeasibility StudiesFemaleHumansInterviews as TopicMastectomy

Identifiers

PMID23768153
PMCPMC3698180

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.