09.03.2026

Young adults with lived experience of cancer and their caregivers often slip through the cracks of cancer care. They face unique mental health challenges that are not appropriately identified or treated.

 

Lack of mental health practice guidelines and a desire for training among healthcare professionals in cancer care creates the problematic situation. The Melodic project has been developing and implementing an online training course designed to provide the necessary tools and skillsets required to screen for mental health issues and provide appropriate support in cancer care.

The need for such a training program is pressing, given current changes in cancer incidence and survivorship rates. Between 1990 and 2019, global incidence of early-onset cancer in adults under fifty years of age rose by 79.1 % (Zhao et al., 2023), with a significant upward trajectory predicting a potential incidence rate increase of 12.8 % (André, 2025).

Considering this, it has become increasingly important to understand how young adults with lived experience of cancer (YACs) face the obstacles of having key emotional, cognitive, and social developmental milestones severely disrupted by cancer, and are at particular risk in the early stages of young adulthood (Tanner et al., 2023.)

 

 

Psychiatric disorders in individuals with cancer has been found to be associated with a 1.5 x increased odds of death (Lee et al., 2020). Not only may mental health needs were unmet during this period, but they may be unsupported in subsequent survivorship care (Janssen et al., 2021). Furthermore, the nature of these challenges occurring during a period of developing autonomy for the YA can make the process even more demanding on caregivers (Pettitt et al., 2025).

As the forms of cancer most associated with increased incidence and survivorship in Europe are also those demonstrating the greatest relative increases in prevalent cases (Angelis et al., 2024), it can be surmised that the consequences of these needs going unmet will only become more severe with time.

 

Developing education to fill training gaps in healthcare

Developing and sharing knowledge about the specific mental health needs of young adults with cancer will enable health care professionals (HCPs) to offer holistic, timely support and improve overall health outcomes (Avutu et al., 2022). As gatekeepers, HCPs play a critical role in recognizing and addressing these challenges early in the cancer journey (Lazenby, 2015). Through an international survey conducted by Melodic, both need and desire for mental health training has been identified among HCPs, in line with other research finding that mental health training is warranted for both community healthcare workers (Ramirez-Ruiz et al., 2025), and desired by HCPs in oncology care (Matthews et al., 2025).

An online training course has been developed with a curriculum aiming to equip HCPs in this area. The training emphasizes early recognition, screening and management of psychosocial and mental health challenges, effective communication, and holistic support throughout the cancer journey. By strengthening these competencies in HCPs, the curriculum will improve care quality, patient engagement and equality, and overall health outcomes.

 

Providing staff with the tools they need for mental health care

The  training was offered to HCPs as an online an eight weeks Moodle course. The course is designed to educate on the mental health impact of cancer, the impact of a cancer diagnosis on family members, interventions to support mental health, and ensuring effective interprofessional care and professional wellbeing. The course culminates in an online international symposium, helping to bring learnt content into practice.

Teaching and learning strategies of the course are founded on evidence-based techniques. Research shows that online communication skills training is effective for cancer and palliative care professionals (Berg et al., 2021), yet relying solely on online learning can create challenges. To minimize this, brief video lectures (Manasrah et al., 2021; Sturman et al., 2018) and supplementary self-directed materials, which are valued by both teachers and healthcare students (Elshami et al., 2022), were included to support deeper learning.

Throughout the course, we have included contact sessions and group discussions, wherein students can discuss the learning materials, key concepts, and explore case studies. Assessment involves two key methods: quizzes or games and learning diaries and self-reflection. These methods are based on evidence that they support ongoing learning among interdisciplinary staff in palliative care (Santivasi et al., 2014), and promote confidence and a sense of identity in health education (Lim et al., 2022), respectively.

Through these, the course will contribute to the development of cancer care staff that are equipped not only to provide mental health support for recently diagnosed YACs and their families in the short-term but also to have the tools to protect their wellbeing in an extremely demanding role. The project has already begun recruitment and will conclude in April with its international symposium.

 

 

References

André, F., Rassy, E., Achutti-Duso, B., Boilève, A., Smolenschi, C., Delaloge, S., & Barlesi, F. (2025). The rising tides of cancer among young adults. ESMO open, 10(9).

Avutu, V., Lynch, K. A., Barnett, M. E., Vera, J. A., Bender, J. L. G., Tap, W. D., & Atkinson, T. M. (2022). Psychosocial Needs and Preferences for Care among Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Patients (Ages 15–39): A Qualitative Study. Cancers, 14(3), 710. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14030710

Berg, M. N., Ngune, I., Schofield, P., Grech, L., Juraskova, I., Strasser, M., … & Halkett, G. K. (2021). Effectiveness of online communication skills training for cancer and palliative care health professionals: a systematic review. Psycho‐Oncology, 30(9), 1405-1419.

De Angelis, R., Demuru, E., Baili, P., Troussard, X., Katalinic, A., Lopez, M. D. C., … & Marcos-Gragera, R. (2024). Complete cancer prevalence in Europe in 2020 by disease duration and country (EUROCARE-6): a population-based study. The Lancet Oncology, 25(3), 293-307.

Elshami, W., Taha, M. H., Abdalla, M. E., Abuzaid, M., Saravanan, C., & Al Kawas, S. (2022). Factors that affect student engagement in online learning in health professions education. Nurse Education Today, 110, 105261.

Janssen, S. H., van der Graaf, W. T., van der Meer, D. J., Manten-Horst, E., & Husson, O. (2021). Adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivorship practices: an overview. Cancers, 13(19), 4847.

Lazenby, M., Ercolano, E., Grant, M., Holland, J. C., Jacobsen, P. B., & McCorkle, R. (2015). Supporting Commission on Cancer–Mandated Psychosocial Distress Screening with implementation Strategies. Journal of Oncology Practice, 11(3), e413–e420. https://doi.org/10.1200/jop.2014.002816

Lee, S. A., Nam, C. M., Kim, Y. H., Kim, T. H., Jang, S. I., & Park, E. C. (2020). Impact of onset of psychiatric disorders and psychiatric treatment on mortality among patients with cancer. The Oncologist, 25(4), e733-e742.

Manasrah, A., Masoud, M., & Jaradat, Y. (2021, July). Short videos, or long videos? A study on the ideal video length in online learning. In 2021 international conference on information technology (ICIT) (pp. 366-370). IEEE.

Matthews, E., Webber, K., Wiley, J. F., & Parker, C. (2025). Providing Outpatient Oncology Mental Health Support: Understanding Staff Perspectives. Psycho‐Oncology, 34(6), e70206.

Pettitt, N. J., Petrella, A. R., Neilson, S., Topping, A., & Taylor, R. M. (2025). Psychosocial and support needs of the main caregiver for adolescents and young adults undergoing treatment for cancer. Cancer Nursing, 48(3), e195-e202.

Ramirez-Ruiz, M., Díaz-Rodríguez, J., Torres-Blasco, N., Tollinchi-Natali, N., Rivera-Alers, D., Robles-Gutiérrez, J., … & Castro-Figueroa, E. M. (2025, October). Mental Health Training for Community Health Workers in Cancer Care: A Narrative Review. In Healthcare (Vol. 13, No. 19, p. 2500). MDPI.

Santivasi, W. L., Gentry, J. H., Jones, C. A., & Casarett, D. J. (2024). A Weekly Multiple-Choice Quiz for Continuing Education in a Palliative Care Interdisciplinary Team. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 67(5), e671.

Sturman, N., Mitchell, B., & Mitchell, A. (2018). Nice to watch? Students evaluate online lectures. The Clinical Teacher, 15(1), 19-23.

Tanner, S., Engstrom, T., Lee, W. R., Forbes, C., Walker, R., Bradford, N., & Pole, J. D. (2023). Mental health patient‐reported outcomes among adolescents and young adult cancer survivors: A systematic review. Cancer medicine, 12(17), 18381-18393.

Zhao, J., Xu, L., Sun, J., Song, M., Wang, L., Yuan, S., … & Li, X. (2023). Global trends in incidence, death, burden and risk factors of early-onset cancer from 1990 to 2019. BMJ oncology, 2(1), e000049.