Associate Professor Lee Geok Ling (NUS Social Work) and her co-authors took particular interest in Singaporean Chinese patients with advanced cancer. Their study, detailed in the article “Understanding domains of health-related quality of life concerns of Singapore Chinese patients with advanced cancer: a qualitative analysis” was published in 2016 in the journal Supportive Care in Cancer. It sought to understand this community’s perceptions of and concerns about health-related quality of life issues. The researchers found that understandings of pain and suffering went beyond physical pain to include mental suffering. Another trend observed was the presence of secrecy in interpersonal relationships. This is more common in Asian culture, where patients often hide their illness from friends to avoid stigmatisation, and hide their suffering from family members to avoid causing the family emotional distress. A/P Lee et. al. write that secrecy is closely associated with Asian concepts of dignity and face, where patients seek to maintain respect and prevent loss of face. By keeping their prognosis a secret from friends and family members, they are able to maintain their dignity. The study thus reveals the importance and value of developing culturally relevant frameworks to achieve a more holistic understanding of the subjective experience of cancer, and uncover the diverse interpretations of what constitutes good quality of life, health-wise.