........................................................................................................................................... I DECLARATION ....................................... ................................................................................................. III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................ IV TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................ V LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................................. VII LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................. VIII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................. .......................................................................................... IX INTRODUCTION ...................................... .............................................................................................. 1 MELANOMA IN NEW ZEALAND ................................................................................................................. 1 STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE ......................................................................................................................... 2 THE ROLE OF THE OSTEOPATHIC COMMUNITY .............................................................................................. 3 AIM ..................................................................................................................................................... 3 STUDY OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................................................. 4 RESEARCH QUESTION ............................................................................................................................... 4 SIGNIFICANCE ........................................................................................................................................... 4 LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................................................... 6 MELANOMA PATHOLOGY .......................................................................................................................... 6 CURRENT DIAGNOSTIC METHODS, STAGING AND THERAPY ............................................................................ 7 INCIDENCE AND TRENDS ......................................................................................................................... 10 SCREENING ............................................................................................................................................. 11 APTITUDE OF NON-TRAINED GROUPS ...................................................................................................... 14 METHOD ............................................ ...................................................................................................... 16 RESEARCH DESIGN ................................................................................................................................. 16 PARTICIPANT SELECTION ........................................................................................................................ 16 RECRUITMENT AND DATA COLLECTION ................................................................................................. 17 QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN ........................................................................................................................ 18 QUESTIONNAIRE TESTING....................................................................................................................... 22 DATA ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................................................... 26 RESULTS ........................................... ....................................................................................................... 28 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 28 SURVEY RESPONSE ................................................................................................................................. 28 PARTICIPANT DEMOGRAPHICS ................................................................................................................ 29 ATTITUDES ............................................................................................................................................. 33 SCREENING FOR SKIN LESIONS ............................................................................................................... 37 KNOWLEDGE .......................................................................................................................................... 39 SKILL IN DETECTING ABNORMAL LESIONS ................................................................................................ 47