ORIGINAL ARTICLE The impact of personal-, disease- and work-related factors on work ability of women with breast cancer living in the community: a cross-sectional survey study Kin Cheung 1 & Siu Yin Shirley Ching 1 & Amy Chan 2 & Doris Cheung 2 & Suk Yee Polly Cheung 2 Received: 23 February 2017 /Accepted: 30 May 2017 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017 Abstract Purpose The aims of this study were to identify the work ability (WA) of breast cancer (BC) survivors during the course of their illness, and the relationships between personal-, dis- ease-, and work-related factors, and their WA. Methods This is a cross-sectional survey study. One hundred fifty-one participants with the response rate of 88.9% were recruited from the community in 2014 and 2015. Results BC survivors’ WA was at its highest before diagnosis, and then dropped to the lowest during treatment. Although their current WA had improved, it has not bounced back to that before diagnosis. The resignation rate was 35.8%. Factors positively associated with current WA included (a) age and year of diagnosis, (b) physical and psychological health and (c) WA before diagnosis or during treatment, working years, work control and mastery. However, compliance with appro- priate healthy eating habits and believing in personal health controlled by chance were negatively associated with current WA. Furthermore, the participants would more likely to have higher current WA if they (a) were more optimistic with good stress management; (b) currently were not receiving treatment or other illnesses; (c) perceived less effects of their health problems, physical workloads or their cancer diagnoses on their work and (d) perceived continue to work in the next 2 years, with good ability to handle physical and mental work. Conclusions This study confirmed that most BC survivors continued to work after their diagnoses. The factors affecting their WA were multifactorial. It is important to enhance their positive thinking. Keywords Breastcancer . Work ability . Course of the illness . Workplace psychological intervention . Work culture Introduction The employment rate of cancer survivors has been reported as ranging from 41 to 86% [1]. Of these, the employment rate of breast cancer (BC) survivors was the highest, ranging from 80 to 86% [2–4]. Having a job allows cancer survivors to be economically independent, contributes to society, offers intel- lectual challenges, enhances self-esteem and returns them to normalcy [1, 5–7]. Hence, employment-related studies of can- cer survivors have been conducted over the last 10 years, but these have focused mostly on continued to work, resumed work or returned to work [2, 3, 6, 7]. Limited studies have been conducted on the effect of cancer on BC survivors’ work ability (WA) [8–12]. WA has been defined as the self-reported capability of workers to perform their work [11–14], and it is a strong predictor of cancer survivors returning to work [15]. Studies using case-control methods have indicated that BC survivors’ WA has been impaired when compared to cancer- free control groups. However, both groups have rated their * Kin Cheung kin.cheung@polyu.edu.hk Siu Yin Shirley Ching shirley.ching@polyu.edu.hk Amy Chan amychan@hkbcf.org Doris Cheung dorischeung@hkbcf.org Suk Yee Polly Cheung pollycheung@hkbcf.org 1 School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Yuk Choi Road, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China 2 Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation, 16/F, Jupiter Tower, 9 Jupiter Street, North Point, Hong Kong, China Support Care Cancer DOI 10.1007/s00520-017-3773-x