Individuals with mental health problems, especially those hospitalized in mental health institutions, are particularly vulnerable to violations of their Human Rights. There are a number of special laws and regulations in different European countries and on the international level regarding the rights of people with mental health problems, however there are many instances in which their rights continue to be violated. In order to respect their Human Rights, it is necessary to study and to address the negative attitudes that the general (or even professional) public may hold toward the people with such problems.

This research aims to reveal and compare the attitudes toward mentally ill people in different countries (Romania, Czech Republic, Nigeria and Serbia). Also, within the project we will develop a workshop to address these attitudes.

The Opinion about Mental Illness Scale (OMI) for measuring attitudes was used. We used the pre-post study design to evaluate changes of attitudes because of the involvement in the intervention workshop. Students in the area of psychology, medicine or similar or general public took place in 90-minutes workshop, which was developed from the stories of people suffering from mental illnesses (e.g. schizophrenia), and their family perceptions and attitudes.

The pilot study showed a great acceptance of this kind of interventions among students. Besides, the structure of the workshop, the response of the audience, participation rate and first results of the evaluation will be presented.