ABSTRACT
Cancer. The very word strikes fear in the hearts and minds of most individuals. Over one million cases are diagnosed each year in the United States alone, where it is second only to heart disease as the leading cause of mortality. And with recent medical advances in the treatment and control of heart disease, infectious illnesses, diabetes and other major causes of mortality, individuals increasingly face the prospect of dying from cancer. Cancer fears are further fuelled by dramatic media accounts and personal memories of protracted, painful suffering by individuals who have died of cancer, as well as from beliefs that its onset and progress are almost uncontrollable. It is little wonder, then, that cancer is often construed as a death sentence and dreaded more than any other disease with the possible exception of AIDS.
