Usefulness of an educational lecture focusing on improvement in public awareness of and attitudes toward depression and its treatments

Abstract

BackgroundThere is an urgent need to establish effective strategies for suicide prevention. Stigma against depression may be a potential anti-protective factor for suicide. Thus, we investigated baseline levels of awareness and attitudes toward depression and its treatment among the general population by our original 18-item questionnaire, which we aimed to validate in the present study. Next, we conducted two types of educational interventions and examined the results to clarify the difference in the quality of these lectures.MethodsSubjects were 834 citizens (245 males and 589 females) who received an anti-stigma-targeted (n = 467) or non-targeted lecture (n = 367). An 18-item questionnaire assessing levels of awareness and attitudes toward depression and its treatments was administered to each participant before and after the lecture. A chi-square test was used to investigate categorical variables for background data on the participants. Factor analysis of baseline scores was conducted on the 18 questionnaire items. Student’s t-test was used for analysis of the gender effect. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for comparison among the 5 age groups and comparison of the effect of the two lectures. Multiple regression analysis was applied to examine the determinants of improved attitudes after intervention.ResultsPublic attitudes toward depression consisted of 4 distinct elements, which were disease-model attitudes, help-seeking behavior, negative affect toward depression, and non-medication solutions. Older participants had poorer disease-model attitudes and more negative affect toward depression, whereas younger participants showed poorer help-seeking behavior (p < 0.05). The anti-stigma-targeted lecture was superior to the non-targeted lecture in improving disease-model attitudes and non-medication solutions (p < 0.05). Multiple regression analyses revealed that each subscale score at post-lecture was strongly dependent on its own baseline subscale score (p < 0.01), and that baseline disease-model attitudes also affected post-lecture scores on negative affect toward depression and non-medication solutions (p < 0.01).ConclusionsThe educational intervention appears useful for acquiring accurate attitudes toward depression in a medical model. However, other strategies should be considered to enhance help-seeking behavior, especially in younger people.

Overview of Stigma against Psychiatric Illnesses and Advancements of Anti-Stigma Activities in Six Asian Societies

“…However, this progress was ironically met with an increase in stigmatizing articles about bipolar disorder [81]. Such stigma toward mental illness often leads to difficulty forming trusting relationships and interferes with medical treatment by preventing help-seeking behaviors [76,80,82] The consequences of individuals resorting to self-management of their illness can be dire, especially for those who struggle with depression. The stigma surrounding depression in Japan, while relatively less than that of schizophrenia is still pronounced among the general population [75].…”

“…These stigmatized individuals tend to form the belief that suicide could be the ultimate solution instead of seeking help [84,85]. The annual number of suicides in Japan exceeded 30,000 between 1998 and 2011, calling for an urgent need to establish effective suicide prevention strategies [82]. Increasing research has gone into programs targeted at reducing stigma surrounding mental illness, with findings that educational programs [86,87] and social contact [88] are effective interventions with social contact appearing to have more long-term benefits.…”

Validation and Cultural Adaptation of Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue (EMIC) in Assessing Stigma among Recovered Patients with COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia

“…Furthermore, multiple local and international public awareness campaigns about the COVID-19 pandemic have been carried out to educate the public about its modes of transmission and the protective measures, such as mask wearing and social distancing, which should be adopted to lessen the risk of transmission. However, other infectious and mental illnesses, such as leprosy and depression, did not have the same breadth and quality of public educational campaigns as with COVID-19, resulting in higher levels of stigmatization [32,33]. Moreover, this is the first time to explore stigma among Arabic-speaking individuals in Saudi Arabia who survived COVID-19.…”

Comprehensive analysis of depression-related factors among middle-aged residents in Japan, an Eastern culture

“…The results of this study revealed that individual behavioral factors, such as proper sleep habits and stress coping skills, are important preventative factors for depression. Further, the findings indicated the validity of promoting existing measures to prevent depression among middle-aged residents in Japan, such as providing interventions for reconstructing stress-sensitive cognition, [ 35 ] encouraging help-seeking behavior, [ 36 ] and improving sleep quality. [ 37 ] However, it is difficult to promote these interventions in the community because they can be burdensome for busy middle-aged people.…”