Human Rights Education and Attitudes Toward Mental Health Among Psychology, Medical, and Social Work Students

The human rights approach has been indicated as a fundamental part of reducing the stigma of mental health distress and improving mental health care processes. This study aimed to examine the relationship between human rights knowledge and attitudes toward mental health among psychology, medical, and social work students in Colombia, investigate how sociodemographic factors and beliefs about mental health influence this relationship, and explore differences between psychology, medical and social work students in these domains. This study aims to fill the gap in understanding how human rights education impacts attitudes toward mental health among future professionals in these fields. An analytical, cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample of 470 students. Community Attitudes Toward the Mentally Ill, Human Rights Exposure in Social Work and Human Rights Engagement in Social Work were used as instruments. The comparison of study variables across sex, academic programs, and personal beliefs shows that psychology and social work education could have strong program content on human rights issues. However, medical education appears to be stronger to form a disposition to do good actions. Also, favorable beliefs about the possibility of promoting mental health, and the value of social science labor were directly related to higher knowledge and practice of human rights. Factors related to the stigma of mental health distress and the focus on human rights in future mental health professionals are highlighted that should be more visible in the training practices of these professions.