Poster Presentation Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2026

Pilot group therapy for people diagnosed with stage III melanoma – the MELGROUP study (146549)

Kelly Nunes-Zlotkowski 1 2 , Jake Thompson 1 2 , Claire Gore 1 2 , Tayla McCutcheon 1 2 , Iris Bartula 1 2 , Lisa Gomes 1 2 , Zoe Dudley 1 2 , Alexander Menzies 1 2 3 4 , Maria Gonzalez 1 2 , Toni Lindsay 5 , Ingrid Kivikoski 6 , Robyn Saw 1 2 7 8
  1. Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  2. Melanoma Institute Australia, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  3. Department of Medical Oncology, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  4. Department of Medical Oncology, Mater Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  5. Chris O’Brien Lifehouse Cancer Centre, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
  6. Consumer Representative, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
  7. Department of Melanoma and Surgical Oncology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
  8. Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Aims

Symptoms of distress, depression and anxiety are common among melanoma survivors. Psychological care needs of those people are often unmet, partly due to barriers to access services and to workforce capacity limitations. Group psychotherapy may enhance treatment opportunities for melanoma patients. MELGROUP is a pilot study conducted at the Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA), aimed at investigating the acceptability and feasibility of a group psychotherapy intervention for individuals diagnosed with stage III melanoma.

Methods

Mixed-method, longitudinal study investigating the acceptability, appropriateness, feasibility, and effectiveness of MELGROUP, as well as the possible barriers and enablers to implementation. Thirty-two MIA patients diagnosed with stage III melanoma will be recruited into four groups of 8 participants each. Two groups will receive in-person therapy (n=16), and two groups will receive online therapy (n=16). MELGROUP utilises Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) principles and will be delivered by two psychologists over 8 two-hour sessions fortnightly. Distress, depression, anxiety, stress, quality-of-life, coping/self-efficacy and service satisfaction data will be collected via surveys. Service parameters data will be accessed from clinical files. Quantitative data will be analysed using descriptive statistics, and qualitative data will be analysed using Thematic Analysis. This study was approved by the Sydney Local Health District – Royal Prince Alfred Zone (2023/ETH00561) and registered at the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR); ACTRN 12623000815662.

Results

MELGROUP recruitment is ongoing since April 2026. This presentation will provide an overview of preliminary results to date. It is hypothesised that MELGROUP will result in a feasible intervention and be considered acceptable and appropriate. Intervention results are expected to demonstrate improvements in patient-related outcomes measured.

Conclusion

MELGROUP is the first study to trial an online and face-to-face ACT group-based intervention in melanoma. This study will inform future larger trialling and implementation of group-based interventions for people diagnosed with melanoma.