Nov 06, 2015 01:48 PM EST By J Dionne, UniversityHerald Reporter

Job searching can be a demoralizing process, and it is even more difficult when you're a cancer survivor.

New research published in the Journal of applied Psychology found that job applicants who are cancer survivors are less likely to receive callbacks from potential retail employers than those who did not disclose their health history.

"This is especially problematic as people with chronic and past illnesses are protected from discrimination by the Americans with Disabilities Act, and our findings indicate that cancer survivors do tend to disclose their cancer histories with interviewers at relatively high rates," Larry Martinez, lead researcher of the study and an assistant professor of hospitality management at Penn State, said in a statement.

For the study, researchers targeted 121 retail managers at three large shopping malls in a metropolitan area in the southern part of the United States. Five undercover researchers, two men and three women between ages 21 and 29, were assigned randomly to disclose a history of cancer or provide no information about a history of cancer. Prior to data collection, researchers confirmed each establishment was hiring. Employers who used a strict online-only application process were excluded from the study. Only one applicant entered each store.

Researchers found that applicants disclosing a cancer history received fewer callbacks from managers than the applicants who did not disclose a history of cancer. For the cancer survivor group, 21 percent received callbacks. For the control group, nearly 37 percent received callbacks, a statistically significant difference, according to the researchers.

While no hiring laws were broken, they found evidence of discrimination.

"Despite the fact that cancer survivors are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act, we did see this difference in callbacks between them and the general public, as well as the negative interpersonal treatment they received," Martinez said.

Based on their findings, researchers concluded that while diversity efforts have generally increased over the last decade, health characteristics are often not included in diversity programs.

"Managers and employees should be mindful of the fact that although societal attitudes toward cancer survivors are generally quite positive, with people often viewing them as champions who have successfully overcome a traumatic experience, we nonetheless might perceive them as being less desirable employees simply because of their history with cancer," Martinez said.

The findings are detailed in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

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