Although the psychosocial oncology literature is strong, substantial limitations and unanswered questions remain. Much of the research has focused on heterogeneous samples of patients who vary widely across disease site (., melanoma vs. breast cancer), stage of progression (., localized vs. metastatic), and phase of illness (., initial diagnosis vs. long-term survival). The challenges patients face vary widely across these dimensions, and therefore, it is crucial for research designs to take this into consideration
