Connecting human rights education and dignity-based health and social care education

Upholding legally protected human rights and ensuring dignity-in-care are key concerns for health and social care practice. Aiming to bridge current disconnects, this article advocates for, and brings initial insights to, a focus on intersections between education in support of human rights and education in support of dignity in health and social care practice. Drawing on data collection primarily with undergraduate nursing students in Scotland, UK, this article explores knowledge and perceptions of human rights and dignity and the extent to which each of these ideas provoked similar or distinctive responses. It argues that integrating both in educational interventions is valuable, notably in order to support a shift in future practitioners’ perspectives from a predominantly personal, ethical to a more professional, legal lens, thus opening a path towards potential for greater accountability. The research has implications for understanding the applied value of an interlocking human rights law-and-dignity approach.