Improving Australians' depression literacy

Community awareness and understanding of depression ("depression literacy") underpins successful implementation of prevention, early intervention and treatment programs. Improving depression literacy is a major goal of beyondblue: the national depression initiative. Although other countries have previously attempted to address this issue, there is little evidence to indicate that those attempts have achieved their aims. Work in other areas of health promotion, such as the widely used PRECEDE model, offers a useful framework from which to develop effective depression literacy initiatives in Australia. This model proposes that effective health promotion strategies should focus not on health actions per se, but on the knowledge and attitudes that encourage or impede individuals from taking such actions. We identify the goals of an effective depression literacy campaign and a range of educational strategies for achieving change in each of these areas. Applying these strategies may give a stronger basis for improving depression literacy than previous initiatives.