Eindrapport studie: Zelfstandigen, kanker en werk: Een onderzoek uitgevoerd door de Vrije Universiteit Brussel in opdracht van het Kenniscentrum Arbeidsongeschiktheid van het RIZIV en de Stichting tegen Kanker.

Within the research world, self-employed people are often overlooked, even when policies and decisions should flow from them. Often, for incapacitated self-employed people, this is based on insights and data that apply to employed people, where a clear (inter-)national framework with concrete regulations and proven rehabilitation pathways after long-term illness is provided.
However, self-employed people are different from wage earners in many respects, especially with regard to work and return to work. If we want to increase the quality of life of self-employed people returning to work after cancer, an adapted policy is urgently needed.
With this report, we aim to lay the groundwork for a clear definition of the population and their needs with regard to disability and work resumption. It is one of the first studies in Europe and the first in Belgium to focus exclusively on the perspective of the self-employed.
The present report is the narrative of results from a multi-year study on the perception of cancer among self-employed people. In it, we mainly looked for the individuality of self-employed people compared to employees. After all, where there are similar experiences, we can already rely on a comprehensive package of support and measures.
Research among self-employed people challenges us as researchers. This will be evident from this narrative. After all, it is a very diverse group and not well-structured as we find among employees and even the unemployed. The way their work context and/or succession context is structured facilitates succession and research. If we want to further refine the idiosyncrasies of the self-employed, we as researchers and policymakers need to put forward other research methods.