Online Depression Communities as a Complementary Approach to Improving the Attitudes of Patients With Depression Toward Medication Adherence: Cross-Sectional Survey Study

This study provides the first empirical evidence demonstrating the relationship between ODC content and attitudes toward medication adherence, through which we offer a novel solution to the problem of poor medication adherence among patients with depression in China. Our findings also provide suggestions about how to optimize this new approach-health care practitioners should generate online content that precisely matches the informational needs of patients with depression, and ODC service providers should endeavor to regulate the community atmosphere. Nonetheless, we warn that ODC interventions cannot be used as the only approach to addressing the problem of poor medication taking among patients with severe depressive symptoms.