title: Mental health literacy and the experience of depression in a community sample of gay men.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Gay men are at higher risk of suffering from a variety of psychiatric disorders, yet the mental health literacy of this population has remained largely unknown.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 2007 and 2011, surveys were conducted among gay men in Geneva, Switzerland, recruited by probability-based time-space sampling. Based on a case vignette of a man with major depression, respondents were asked a series of questions about labelling, perceived risk, and help-seeking beliefs. Men meeting caseness for major depression were asked open questions about perceived causes and additional help-seeking/self-help.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 762 respondents, 14.7% met diagnostic criteria for major depression (MDD) in the past 12 months. The vignette was labelled depression by 44.1% of the entire sample, and 61.9% of the men with MDD. Discrimination (33.2%), acceptance or rejection by others (21.4%), and loneliness (24.9%) were the most common reasons given for greater susceptibility among gay men, yet men with MDD reported problems with love/relationship (32.5%) and work (28.9%) as the most common perceived causes of recent depression, and problems with love/relationship (21.9%), accepting one's homosexuality (21.1%), and family (20.2%) at initial outset. The highest proportions of gay men rated non-medical options such as a close friend (91.6%), relaxation exercises or meditation (84.4%), and physical activity (83.5%) as being helpful for the depression vignette.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  No probes used for open questions, and findings generalizable only to gay men in the sampling scheme.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are many commonalities in labelling, perceived causes, and help-seeking with general populations, but also numerous specificities in mental health literacy and experience among gay men.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, Hirschengraben 84, CH-8001 Zurich, Switzerland; Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstr. 57, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: jwang@ifspm.uzh.ch.
authors.forename: Jen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Dialogai, CP 69, CH-1211 Geneva 21, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Häusermann
authors.affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstr. 57, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Mitchell G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Weiss
mesh_terms: D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D057220:Health Literacy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006306:Health Surveys; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Cultural epidemiology; Depression; Help-seeking; Homosexuality; Mental health literacy