Public attitudes towards prevention of depression.

Background: Various programs for depression prevention have been shown to be effective, but preventive efforts population wide are only beginning. We examine public attitudes towards prevention of depression and beliefs about helpful preventive measures.

Method: Fully structured telephone interview with a representative population sample including people of German nationality older than 14 years (n=1016).

Results: 75.4% of the sample agreed on the possibility to prevent depression. Of those, 403 (52.6%) stated that they would take part in prevention programs, and in this group 234 (58.1%) indicated readiness to pay out of their pocket for such programs. Out of a catalogue of 37 proposed actions, psychosocial and lifestyle related measures were preferred. Exploratory factor analysis revealed three factors--proactive lifestyle, relying on medicine, and relaxing--inherent in public beliefs about helpfulness of preventive measures. Higher education reduced willingness, high perceived personal risk of depression and previous contact to the disease increased willingness to take part in preventive programs.

Conclusion: The public entertains favourable attitudes and beliefs about prevention of depression that do not conflict with evidence-based programs. Our study thus encourages implementation of population based prevention programs.