Understanding the general public's beliefs about depression is essential if public education and anti-stigma interventions are to be effective. This study aimed to examine Chinese respondents' personal attitudes towards depression and their perceptions about the attitudes of others regarding depression and to identify the correlates of personal stigma and perceived stigma towards depression. A community survey was conducted among 1697 residents aged between 16 and 89 years of a large city in central China using the Depression Stigma Scale. Participants completed questionnaires assessing experiences of depression and family functioning. Participants reported high levels of stigma towards depression, with greater perceived stigma than personal stigma. Increasing age was correlated with greater personal stigma and perceived stigma. Higher personal stigma was also significantly correlated with being male, unemployed and good family function. Concerningly high levels of stigmatizing beliefs towards depression were prevalent among the public. This may be a reason why people with mental disorders do not seek assistance. This highlights the importance of the need for health education and promotion activities. Findings from this study suggest that targeted, culturally appropriate education programs are needed to improve knowledge about depression in the broader community.

Objective: To explore the attitudes and factors in seeking professional psychological help among a Chinese community-dwelling population in order to promote positive help-seeking behaviors and better utilization of mental health services. Methods: Using system and simple random sampling with Kish selection table methods, 912 community-dwelling residents were included in this study and asked about their attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help, depression symptoms, family function, depression literacy, help-seeking intention, and stigma. Results: Scores on the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help scale (ATSPPH-SF) indicated a neutral attitude toward openness to seeking treatment for psychological problems and a negative attitude toward the value and need to seek treatment with a negative total score. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that gender, age, social support (employment status and family function), depression literacy, stigma, and help-seeking intention are significantly associated with attitude toward seeking professional psychological help. Conclusion: The overall attitude toward seeking professional psychological help is not optimistic, thus, more efforts are needed to enhance understanding. Effective interventions including mental health education, training of mental health professionals, and popularizing the use of mental health services are essential, especially for the at-risk population.

Aims To investigate eHealth literacy and the psychological status of Chinese residents during the COVID‐19 pandemic and explore their interrelationship. Background The COVID‐19 outbreak has placed intense psychological pressure on community residents. Their psychological status may be affected by eHealth literacy due to home isolation during this rampant pandemic. Methods This is a web‐based cross‐sectional survey conducted on the JD Health platform which resulted in 15,000 respondents having participated in this survey. The eHealth Literacy Questionnaire (EHLQ), Patient Health Questionnaire‐9 (PHQ‐9), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and Impact of Event Scale‐Revised (IES‐R) were used. Pearson correlation was used to analyze the relationship between eHealth literacy and depression, insomnia and post‐traumatic stress disorder. Results The score of eHealth literacy was 48.88±8.46; and 11.4%, 6.8%, and 20.1% of respondents experienced moderate to severe depression, insomnia and post‐traumatic stress disorder. eHealth literacy negatively correlated to depression (r=‐0.331), insomnia (r=‐0.366), and post‐traumatic stress disorder (r=‐0.320). Conclusion eHealth literacy is closely related to psychological status. Improving eHealth literacy may contribute to maintaining good psychological well‐being. Implications for Nursing Management It is necessary to strengthen education of primary healthcare providers to enhance their ability to help community residents effectively use eHealth information.

Background: A low intention of professional help seeking hinders the effective treatment of depression. The factors are from the perspectives of the social, family, and individual; however, an understanding of how they interact to predict professional help-seeking intention (PHSI) is not clear.Objectives: The objectives of the study was to investigate PHSI toward depression in a Chinese community-dwelling population and construct a predictive model of the PHSI to explore the various factors involved.Methods: Stratified random sampling and Kish table methods were used to identify 2,000 community residents. Participants completed a series of questionnaires to measure general characteristics, PHSI, professional help-seeking attitude, depression stigma, depression knowledge, family function, and depression symptoms. Analyses included descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis using SPSS 26.0 and a Structural Equation Model using Amos 22.0.Results: The score of the PHSI was 14.92 ± 9.574. Professional help-seeking attitude (r = 0.291, p < 0.001) and depression knowledge (r = 0.077, p = 0.002) were positively related to PHSI, while a negative correlation was found between stigma (r = −0.149, p < 0.001) and PHSI. The model of the PHSI indicated a good fit with a CMIN/DF = 2.740 and RESEA = 0.032. The total effect of the influencing factors on the PHSI was listed in the following order: professional help-seeking attitude (0.676) > stigma (−0.143) > depression knowledge (0.088) > depression symptoms (−0.009) > family function (0.005). The total effect of depression knowledge on PHSI included a direct negative effect (Beta = −0.266, p < 0.001) and an indirect positive effect (0.354) through professional help-seeking attitude and stigma. Also, depression knowledge was negatively associated with stigma (Beta = −0.153, p < 0.001). Depression symptoms were negatively associated with family function (Beta = −0.282, p < 0.001), depression knowledge (Beta = −0.252, p < 0.001), and stigma (Beta = −0.102, p < 0.001), indicating that people with less severe depression symptoms had good family function, depression knowledge, and higher stigma. Family function contributed a positive effect on depression knowledge directly (Beta = 0.145, p < 0.001) and a totally positive effect (0.033) on stigma.Conclusion: The PHSI toward depression is low among Chinese community residents. Professional help-seeking attitude, depression knowledge, and family functioning were facilitators of PHSI, and stigma and the severity of depression symptoms were barriers to PHSI. This study provides reference for the development of policies and guidelines to promote community residents to actively seek professional mental health help. Future policies can focus on multicollaboration among the government, mental health services, and families to increase the mental health resources, improve family functioning, enhance mental health literacy (MHL) of the public, and reduce depression stigma to ease the burden of this mental health issue.