iCanWork: A Randomized Controlled Trial

McGill University

Status: Not yet enrolling

Conditions: Quality of Life; Survivorship; Cancer-related Problem/Condition

Treatments: Behavioral: iCanWork Intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05546736

iCanWork_CIHR

Details and patient eligibility

About

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the iCanWork intervention in assisting cancer survivors (CS) to return to work (RTW) and its impact on their health-related quality of life (QoL), health service utilization, RTW readiness, time to RTW, and work capacity.

Full description

The iCanWork intervention comprises several elements related to health and work, taken from the latest reviews that recommend a remote and individual intervention, led by a vocational rehabilitation counsellor (VRC), experts in assisting RTW for CS. The intervention includes 6 sessions with a VRC and 1-4 sessions with an occupational therapist (OT). A total of 270 CS will be recruited into 2 groups (intervention or control). The duration of this study is 24 months. Study participants will complete electronic questionnaires measuring study variables at baseline before randomization and at 6-month, 12-month, 18-month, and 24-month follow-ups.

Enrollment: 270 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• diagnosed with cancer (all types) treated with curative intent and of working age (between 18 and 65 at the time of diagnosis)
• gainfully employed at the time of diagnosis (full or part-time, including students)
• still on sick leave, including long-term disability leave, but for less than 2 years
• has not started to return to work, since stopping due to cancer
• can read and understand English or French
• reside in Canada.

Exclusion criteria

• If the cancer survivor's physicians consider returning to work unwise, such as due to a metastatic cancer diagnosis

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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270 participants in 2 patient groups

iCanWork Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

iCanWork includes 6 1-hour sessions with a VRC and 1 to 4 1-hour sessions with an OT. In the positive event that a participant has returned to work during the study, three of the six VRC sessions are reserved to support the participants in their transition to the workplace.

Treatment:

Behavioral: iCanWork Intervention

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants randomized to the control group will receive their usual care and will be referred to the Cancer Work website for educational resources related to RTW. If they contact the team with RTW-related questions, they will be referred to their care teams.