title: Playing the game: psychological factors in surviving cancer.
abstract: Cancer is a threat that can rob a person of their physical and mental wellbeing. While cancer awareness has ventured to the forefront of social consciousness, led by surges from Lance Armstrong and other celebrities affected by cancer, the medical world continually remains foiled in terms of regulating the many confounding variables that spawn cancer: toxins, pollutants, poor diet, etc. Yet there is a hope: one variable thought to affect cancer prognosis may be distinctly tractable: positive mental attitude (PMA). Principles of PMA that are readily utilized in the science of sports psychology to spur athletes to victory may be productively applied to the hospital arena. The parallels between sports and medicine are abundant, and can be utilized by the cancer patient to help secure victory. This paper describes the steps to victory, along with stratagems and concepts on how to keep the "opponent"--cancer--from gaining any further advantage.
authors.affiliation: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA. srom@fau.edu
authors.forename: Stephen A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Rom
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peluso
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D013177:Sports / Q000523:psychology*; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*