In a study of potential bone marrow transplant recipients, patients reported an improved outlook on life, enhanced relationships, and greater satisfaction with religious concerns (Andrykowski et al., 1993). The authors note that cancer should not be viewed as a homo- geneously negative event, but as a “psychosocial transition, . an event with significant negative implications that can nevertheless cause individuals to restructure their attitudes, values, and behaviors, and thus can serve to trigger positive psychosocial change” (p. 274). It is important to note that these findings should not obscure the fact that the expe- rience of breast cancer remains a major stressor (Carver et al., 1993). And.
