Individuals facing a threatening event start looking for knowledge to interpret the event in an objective fashion
and cope with it effectively. The need for knowledge must be met for individuals to cope with indeterminate factors in their lives. Disease that generates indetermination and stressful experiences hampers the development of new identities and self-representation. In such situations, an individual can only solve the problem and facilitate adaptation to the new condition by adopting a new identity and changing the image of self (O¨ z 2001).