The framework describes how patients
When an event is perceived as uncertain, the event is either not recognized, recognized but
not classified, or recognized but not correctly classified (Mishel, 1988). The role of primary
appraisal in the Uncertainty in Illness theory functions to process the uncertainty and acts as
a mediator between uncertainty and an outcome, as suggested by the work of Folkman and
Lazarus (1985) with stress and coping. Folkman and Lazarus identified primary appraisal as
the cognitive ability to classify the stressor as: irrelevant, benign or as a threat. Mishel and
Sorenson (1991) have further evaluated these constructs, empirically demonstrating that the
primary appraisal process results in the view of the prostate cancer as either a danger or an
opportunity.