In France, the number of female cancers increases by 5% per year. Mental burden, precariousness, return to work, couple and intimate life, household management… The social impact of the disease seems heavier for women, reports a study by the Institut Curie carried out on the occasion of the World Cancer Day. Results and avenues for treatment.
With 177,400 new cases per year (National Cancer Institute figure), the number of cancers in women is increasing in France (+5% per year), especially under the effect of smoking or because of a lack of prevention, recalls the Institut Curie on the occasion ofa study – published on February 3, 2022, as part of the world cancer day (February 4)- on the social, intimate and professional impacts of women’s cancers. The study, conducted on 1,500 people, revealed disparities in terms of mental load, family organization, intimate life and return to work between men and women. Main findings:
The National Cancer Institute (InCa) estimates in 2021 that:
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- 43% of French people think that there are inequalities between men and women in terms of mental workload and family organization
- 37% of them think that these inequalities are to the disadvantage of women
- 6% of them think that these inequalities are to the disadvantage of men.
What impact on sexuality?
Still according to the Institut Curie study, one in two women considers that women cannot find the same intimate life than before getting sick. Women who have had cancer are confronted with the intimate and sexual consequences of cancer, and also of its treatments. However, “it is crucial to be able to evoke and legitimize these questions around sexuality and intimacy”, insists Dr. Sylvie Dolbeault, psychiatrist, head of the psycho-oncology and social service at the Institut Curie. In this sense, the Institute offers its patients comprehensive support and a course of care focused on these intimate questions. Caregivers, psychiatrists and psychologists work on issues related to self-esteem, altered body image, couple life, intimate relationships… Nutrition and physical activity fully contribute to the treatment. In addition, the Inca has labeled in September 2021 a repository of sexuality and cancer, who gave birth to the creation of an “oncosexology” working group. This working group aims to improve the “sexual health” of the patient, sometimes troubled by cancer treatments and the disease which is often a taboo.
What impact on work?
More than half of French women think that women with cancer cannot find the same professional life as before the disease, highlights the Institut Curie study. Cancer would thus constitute a factor aggravating the precarious situations of women: one in five people have not returned to work one year after treatment and women, after cancer, have had more work stoppages and more working time arrangements than men. On returning to work:
- 45% of those questioned believe that the inequalities between French people on cancer are primarily linked to income (salaries, social benefits, etc.).
- 16% of women who have recovered from cancer consider that the greatest difficulty when returning to professional life is to suffer the gaze of others and prejudice
- 13% of women find it difficult to regain their place of before and/or to be as efficient as before the disease
To minimize the impact of cancer on professional life, the Institut Curie has created its Transversal therapeutic education unit, including in particular the WeCare@Work association, a project which focuses on the representations of work for health professionals, the ease of stopping work and which includes a therapeutic education component opening the way to a change in culture and patient autonomy as well as a caregiver-patient relationship more focused on listening.
Source: Female Cancer study: the social, intimate and professional impacts in question, carried out by Viavoice* for the Institut Curie. Conducted online in January 2022 with a sample of 1,500 people representative of the French population aged 18 and over.