Abstract: Previous research has suggested that finding positive meaning from illness or loss may benefit not only subjective experience, but also immune and health outcomes. However, the research to date lacks an in-depth approach to investigating the dynamic concept of meaning. Therefore, in this dissertation I integrate theory and methodology from anthropology, health psychology, and psychoneuroimmunology, to give a more comprehensive psychological, social, cultural, and biological picture of meaning-making in women with metastatic breast cancer. The objectives of the dissertation were four-fold: First, to describe women's experiences of living with metastatic breast cancer. Second, to describe the kinds of positive meaning that some women claim as resulting from living with cancer. Third, to explore differences between individuals who found greater or lesser degrees of positive meaning. And, fourth, to explore whether finding positive meaning is associated with healthier profiles of cortisol, a physiological measure of stress, and potential indicator of health outcome. Altogether 23 women with metastatic breast cancer, living in the Los Angeles area, participated in the study. The core of the data collection was in-depth, in-home interviews done six times with each individual over the course of a year. In addition, participants completed repeat standard psychological measures and saliva samples for assessment of cortisol. Common themes in women's experiences included the irony of feeling healthy with 'terminal' disease, the heightened uncertainty of illness, the silence surrounding death, and the suffering of numerous losses in physical functioning, appearance, identity, relationships, and control over one's life and one's body. Nonetheless, despite such suffering and loss, close to half of the women in the study also claimed positive meaning or growth out of their experiences with cancer. Common themes of positive meaning included: enhanced appreciation of everyday life; improved self-esteem; strengthened social relationships; increased compassion; enhanced spirituality; decreased stress and worry; and positive changes in sense of purpose. Greater religiosity, social support, and the presence of a pet in the home were generally associated with a greater degree of positive meaning or growth. Although results were not definitive, no correlation was found between diurnal cortisol rhythms and degree of meaning finding.