Objective To put forward relevant suggestions to improve the level of depression awareness among rural residents in Chongqing by studying their awareness of depression and the media’s health communication strategies for depression. Methods A non-random sample of 210 rural residents in five districts of Chongqing was taken as the study subjects and interviewed. Relevant data were also collected and organized using the literature research method. Results The study participants did not have a high level of knowledge about depression and did not think that the community was doing enough to disseminate health information about depression. 65.00% of the study participants said they had read media reports about depression

but such reports were not helpful

and only 15.00% of the study participants said they had read media reports about depression and considered them helpful. In the satisfaction interview

nearly 80.00% of the study participants were not satisfied with the media reports on depression and thought that the media reports on depression lacked depth and were misleading. Conclusion It is recommended that the community and related media should improve the awareness level of depression and the quality of depression-related health communication among rural residents by giving continuous attention to depression

establishing a long-term reporting mechanism

constructing multiple ways to disseminate depression-related health knowledge among rural residents

improving the professionalism of media workers

and adhering to scientific and objective reporting.