Visibility of the disease: Patients were asked whether or not (yes vs. no) the cancer is visible for others21, e.g. by skin changes, the use of illness-related devices such as stoma or limited mobility. Medical and sociodemographic variables: Cancer diagnoses according to the ICD-1031 were transferred from the cancer registries. Gender, age, marital status, partnership, having children, time since diagnosis, occurrence of metastasis, relapse or second tumor, type of therapy and whether the patient was under current treatment was assessed via self-report.