1. Introduction
depression, Depression, disability, ’
DISORDERS
While CBT is an effective treatment for depression, uptake can be low. This is largely due to attitudinal barriers. Accordingly, the goals of the current investigation were to (a) tailor and develop persuasive psychoeducational materials to match dominant cultural beliefs about the causes of depression and (b) examine the effectiveness of tailored CBT descriptions in improving CBT perceptions. We examined the believability of CBT mechanisms by invoking commonly endorsed etiological models of depression and investigated whether tailoring CBT descriptions to match etiological beliefs about depression influences perceptions of CBT. Participants were recruited using TurkPrime. In Study 1, participants (Depression is among the leading causes of disability around the world [Patient perceptions of mental health treatment are associated with several important outcomes. Three of these treatment perception factors—acceptability, credibility, and expectancy—are consistently associated with uptake and engagement. Acceptability is defined as perceptions of the fairness, non-intrusiveness, and appropriateness of a treatment for a given problem [There are other attitudinal and literacy-related factors that associate meaningfully with CBT acceptability and engagement metrics. Etiological models of disorders or personal explanations of how and why disorders develop and expectations about recovery processes appear to moderate perceptions of CBT and associate with several other treatment-related outcomes [Importantly, beliefs about causes of depression appear to interact with treatment perception factors to predict preferences and other outcomes. Schweizer et al. [These converging lines of evidence suggest that to improve the uptake of and engagement in CBT, researchers and clinicians might consider tailoring the messaging around the nature and benefits of CBT so that the messaging closely matches individuals’ pre-existing explanatory models of distress. Tailored health communications refer to messages promoting health-related knowledge wherein the relevant information is modified to fit the characteristics, needs, or beliefs of a person based on a prior assessment of them. In contrast, generic health communications are not individualised in any capacity [Models of persuasion offer a mechanistic narrative of how tailored health messaging may function to shift health attitudes. One such model is the elaboration likelihood model [To our knowledge, only one study has investigated the effects of treatment descriptions incorporating specific mechanisms of change in CBT on participant perceptions of treatment. Schofield et al. [In summary, there is a need to package treatments in a way that promotes their uptake and engagement. Perceptions of CBT for depression are meaningfully associated with treatment uptake, dropout rates, and outcomes. Further, lay explanatory models of how depression develops or is maintained moderate perceptions of treatment acceptability, credibility, and expectancy. Finally, brief psychoeducational interventions have been effective in modifying perceptions of CBT, and these brief interventions may potentially be optimised by tailoring them, as tailored health messages tend to be more effective than generic messages. The current investigation sought to extend these findings pertaining to health communication, perceptions of aetiology, and treatment perceptions, and address gaps in the literature by examining these in the context of CBT for depression. As described below, we used novel methodologies (e.g., by using simple and complex versions of descriptions) in addressing the research questions. 