ABSTRACT
When we began our research with breast cancer patients in the early 1980s, psychosocial oncology was a relatively new discipline (Cohen, Cullen, & Martin, 1982). At that time, much of the research in psychosocial oncology was focused on the patient’s coping response to the diagnosis of cancer and its psychosocial consequences (Holland & Jacobs, 1986; Lewis & Bloom, 1978–1979; Meyerowitz, 1980). Pioneering work in cancer rehabilitation had begun in the middle to late 1970s, spurred by the funding of several demonstration projects by the National Cancer Institute (Habeck, Bland-ford, Sacks, & Malec, 1981; Lehmann et al., 1978; Mellette, 1977) after the passage of the National Cancer Act and Program in 1971. These investigators identified a wide range of physical, psychosocial, and vocational/economic needs in their patients, which were often neglected by health-care providers as part of routine care (Habeck et al., 1981).
