Challenging Stigma and Discrimination: Effects of the World Health Organization's Quality Rights Training on Rights-Related Attitudes and Mental Health Literacy Among Social Work Students

Background and Purpose: According to the World Health Organization, one in eight of the global population is living with a mental health condition. However, many affected individuals do not seek professional help due to stigma and discrimination, which are considered violations of fundamental human rights. Social work plays a key role in supporting people with mental health conditions; however, studies show that social workers and social work students may also hold stigmatizing attitudes towards people with mental health conditions themselves. Mental health literacy is associated with reduced stigma and can facilitate early recognition of mental health conditions. This study’s objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention in reducing negative rights-related attitudes and promoting mental health literacy among bachelor of social work students in Germany. The research questions were: (1) Does the training change rights-based attitudes towards people with mental health conditions in social work students compared to a control group? (2) Does the training improve knowledge of the rights of people with mental health conditions? (3) Does the training enhance mental health literacy?

Methods: The intervention was based on the World Health Organization’s QualityRights training, published and evaluated in 2019. From October 2023 to August 2024, a quasi-experimental two-arm pre-post study was conducted with 200 bachelor of social work students at the University of Kassel in Germany. The study employed the World Health Organization’s QualityRights Attitudes Questionnaire to assess rights-related attitudes, and the German version of the Mental Health Literacy Questionnaire for Young Adults to measure mental health literacy.

Results: There were no baseline differences between the intervention group and the control group. Only the intervention group showed a significant decrease in negative rights-related attitudes (p<0.001; d=1.003) and a significant increase in knowledge about the rights of people with mental health conditions between T0 and T1 (p<0.001; d=0.836). At T1, the intervention group reported significantly lower negative rights-related attitudes (p<0.001; d=1.293) and higher rights-related knowledge compared to the control group (p<0.001; d=1.076). Additionally, the intervention group scored significantly better on the mental health literacy subscale “erroneous beliefs and stereotypes” (p<0.05; d=0.463). However, no significant group differences were found on other mental health literacy subscales.

Conclusion and Implications: The results of the study demonstrate the effectiveness of the training. They indicate that the training was successful in reducing negative rights-related attitudes in social work students towards people with mental health conditions. The findings highlight the importance of rights-based interventions in social work education. The World Health Organization’s QualityRights training proved to be effective in reducing stigmatizing attitudes and enhancing knowledge of human rights in the context of mental health. Moreover, the training was transferable to the German cultural and educational context. The hypothesis on mental health literacy could not be confirmed. Future research should therefore focus on the implementation of both rights based and mental health literacy programs in social work education. This study supports the implementation of targeted interventions to reduce stigma and promote human rights for individuals with mental health conditions within social work curricula.