The European Parliament stated in a resolution on the EU employment guidelines that the employment rate in the EU is to be increased to 75% by 2020, with a particular focus on vulnerable groups [European Parliament, September 2010], such as people with cancer.
Reasons for the Action
This underlines the importance for effective interventions to support return to work and work retention of people who have been treated for cancer.
Research on cancer and work participation is currently performed in an isolated fashion, however, and further progress in this research area can only be achieved by integrating knowledge emerging from different fields. To be able to provide for effective interventions it is imperative to collaborate on a European scale and to facilitate the exchange of information and knowledge. The Action is timely because more and more people are surviving cancer and wanting to continue their careers with many of them facing problems upon their return. Moreover, the current austere economic environment across the EU 28 countries which is likely to persist for some considerable time, brings vulnerable groups of worker such as cancer survivors at risk.
The CANWON Action is aimed both at the European economic and societal needs and at its scientific and technological advance. It is focussed on the social and economic need in Europe to support as many people as possible to maintain working. It is also focussed on the scientific advance of standardised measurement of prognostic factors, work-related costs, role of employers, and development of effective work participation interventions.
The CANWON Action is innovative because the emerging issue of cancer and employment has so far not been coordinated in a network of research experts and stakeholders such as patient organisation and employer’s networks. Furthermore, the inter-European approach of CANWON, which can take patients’, employers’ and national or regional aspects into account, represents the optimal way to systematically develop successful work participation interventions.
