Supporting physical and mental health is central in all areas of life and employment. This master's degree integrates the promotion of health and wellness with a focus on mental and physical health. You'll gain the knowledge, clinical practitioner and professional skills you need for a career working with clients and patients in health-related settings. You'll also have the opportunity to undertake hands-on learning through a professional placement (the placement option is not available in the 2021/22 academic year due to COVID-19).
This MSc has been developed for psychology graduates (or a related discipline, such as health studies, counselling, mental health, nursing, or public health) and current health and mental healthcare professionals wishing to further their studies, develop their knowledge and skills and enhance their career opportunities.
During the course, you'll be examining health, wellness and illness to understand the relationship between psychological variables and biomedical conditions as well as physical and mental health and wellbeing.
You'll focus on application and intervention and have the opportunity to apply your knowledge and practice professional and clinical skills. These can include communication with clients, ethical and reflective practice, judgment and decision-making, and skills related to formulation and assessment, cognitive-behavioural therapy, and health behaviour change.
We have strong partnerships with many health psychology organisations and trusts which means that you'll be able to undertake an eight-week work placement and gain valuable hands-on work experience. Previous placements have included working with addiction management, cancer screening, pain management, exercise promotion, stroke rehabilitation (the placement option is not available in the 2021/22 academic year due to COVID-19).
Please note that this programme does not lead to a therapy practitioner qualification.
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This master's degree allows you understand how psychology is applied to physical health and psychological wellbeing, and mental and physical ill health. You'll also focus on health promotion and health behaviour change.
During the course you will study counselling skills; interventions to promote health and well-being and to treat mental ill health; chronic illness and its management; health promotion and health behaviour change; and research methods.
You'll be encouraged to focus on both your personal and professional development in several areas. Your professional skills for example, will include clinical, counselling and research skills, analysing and appraising the usefulness and application of psychological theories, and becoming an ethical and reflective practitioner.
You'll also be continually enhancing your employability by developing your decision making and communication skills as well as practising self-awareness and self-reflection.
This module will introduce key areas of wellness and illness, including health promotion and behaviour change, positive psychology and wellbeing, mental ill health and chronic health conditions. You'll be able to focus on intervention and the promotion and enhancement of health and wellbeing.
This module will introduce the main schools of psychological therapy, their theoretical origins and demonstrate how the theory is applied in practice. You'll also be introduced to the basic principles of communication skills that form the foundation of all counselling and therapy.
This module will help you develop the skills required to work in health psychology settings. You will also have the opportunity to undertake a work placement. You'll be supported to develop you personal and professional skills, including clinical skills and becoming an ethical and reflective practitioner.
*This placement option is not available in the 2021/22 academic year due to COVID-19
This module will allow you to develop a critical understanding of current research evidence and perspectives on psychological trauma and its effects. You'll review the impact of trauma on different groups and at different stages of the lifespan and critically examine the models of intervention for psychological trauma. You'll also explore the current debates around ameliorating factors and developmental outcomes.
This module will give you the opportunity for an in-depth, advanced study in a specific area of applied psychology. You'll apply appropriate principles of empirical research to an issue of your choice, and present your research study in the form of a written journal article, using appropriate styles and conventions.
This module aims to introduce you to qualitative research methods, and to provide you with knowledge and practice by equipping you with a combination of practical and theoretical skills. You'll be introduced to and familiarised with a range of qualitative methodologies and methods of generating and analysing data in-depth. You'll also develop reflexive practice, which is an essential aspect of qualitative research.
This module aims to provide you with the core skills and knowledge in quantitative research methods in psychology. The focus is on understanding how research questions relate to design and appropriate analyses. It provides you with advanced skills in a variety of statistical analyses.
See the course specification for more information:
Optional modules are usually available at levels 5 and 6, although optional modules are not offered on every course. Where optional modules are available, you will be asked to make your choice during the previous academic year. If we have insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, or there are staffing changes which affect the teaching, it may not be offered. If an optional module will not run, we will advise you after the module selection period when numbers are confirmed, or at the earliest time that the programme team make the decision not to run the module, and help you choose an alternative module.
You'll attend interactive classes and workshops where you'll take part in discussions, role-play and problem-solving exercises and group work. During the 2021/22 academic year some of this will be online using a mix of live interactive classes and pre-recorded on-demand videos and material, but there will be some face-to-face classes on campus.
You'll be assessed on the basis of a variety of types of coursework including log books and reflections on practice, case studies, intervention design, reports and a journal style article.
If you have travel restrictions to the UK due to coronavirus, this course can be started fully online with support to learn from your home country for the first term.
We are back on campus for the majority of teaching in Autumn 2021, as long as restrictions allow. Your timetable will be built around on campus sessions using our professional facilities, with online sessions for some activities where we know being virtual will add value. We’ll use technology to enhance all of your learning and give you access to online resources to use in your own time.
In case of any changes to government guidance, we‘ll be ready to move to teaching with more restrictions in place and continue to give you an excellent learning experience. In this scenario, on campus teaching should continue although more of your course will take place online.
The table below gives you an idea of what your learning will look like across a typical week. Some weeks might be different due to how we schedule classes and arrange on campus sessions.
This information may change slightly as we receive further guidance from the government. You’ll receive final arrangements for your teaching and a full course timetable before you start.
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Scenario A: Without social distancing | ||
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Live in-person on campus learning |
Contact hours per week, per level: | 2 hours |
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Live online learning |
Average hours per week, per level: |
7 hours |
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Tutor set learning activities |
Average hours per week, per level: |
2 hours |
|
Scenario B: With social distancing and/or with restrictions on travel to campus | ||
|
Live in-person on campus learning |
Contact hours per week, per level: |
2 hours |
|
Live online learning |
Average hours per week, per level: |
7 hours |
|
Tutor set learning activities |
Average hours per week, per level: |
2 hours |
Outside of these hours, you’ll be expected to do independent study where you read, listen and reflect on other learning activities. This can include preparation for future classes. In a year, you’ll typically be expected to commit 1800 hours to your course across all styles of learning. If you are taking a placement, you might have some additional hours.
Read more about our scenarios for returning to campus and what they might mean for your teaching and learning experience, and how you’ll be able to access student support.
Future plans for teaching
We’re developing our plans for in-person on campus teaching following government advice to keep you safe. If more restrictions are put in place in the future, or there is another lockdown, we’ll deliver your learning and support fully online for a temporary period. We’ll make alternative arrangements for any required placements if they can’t go ahead as planned. We’ll always give you notice of any changes that we make.
Definitions of terms
Support
You’ll have a strong support network available to you to make sure you develop all the necessary academic skills you need to do well on your course.
Our support services will be delivered online and on campus and you’ll have access to a range of different resources so you can get the help you need, whether you’re studying at home or have the opportunity to come to campus.
You’ll have access to one to one and group sessions for personal learning and academic support from our library and IT teams, and our network of learning experts. Our teams will also be here to offer financial advice, and personal wellbeing, mental health and disability support.
More on teaching and learning in 2021/22
Read our guide to what you can look forward to when you study your subject with us including more information about your teaching experience this autumn.
Once you've completed this MSc course, you can choose to work in a variety of sectors such as the health service, public health, charities, organisations and academia.
Work may include helping people deal with diabetes, pain, or stroke; health promotion in communities, schools or the workplace; designing and delivering interventions for weight loss or smoking cessation; promoting well-being and mental health; and research and teaching.
Our graduates have found successful careers as:
You could also choose to continue your studies and training by training as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner to work in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services, applying to study for a PhD (i.e. a research degree) or, if you have the Graduate Basis for Chartership with the British Psychological Society, you could apply for training to become, for example, a counselling or clinical psychologist.
Dr Alexis-Garsee is a Chartered Psychologist with the BPS and is joint Programme Leader of the MSc Clinical Health Psychology and Wellbeing programme, joint Ethics Chair for the Psychology Department and Co-ordinator of the Health Psychology Lab. Her research focuses on on the use of technology for behaviour change and providing solutions for problems impacting population health such as smoking, obesity, and chronic illness.
Dr Payne is a Chartered Psychologist with the BPS and a Registered Practitioner Health Psychologist with the HCPC. She is joint programme leader of the MSc Clinical Health Psychology and Wellbeing and the Psychology Research Degrees Coordinator. Her research focuses on health behaviour change, infertility, work stress and work-life balance.
We’ll carefully manage any future changes to courses, or the support and other services available to you, if these are necessary because of things like changes to government health and safety advice, or any changes to the law.
Any decisions will be taken in line with both external advice and the University’s Regulations which include information on this.
Our priority will always be to maintain academic standards and quality so that your learning outcomes are not affected by any adjustments that we may have to make.
At all times we’ll aim to keep you well informed of how we may need to respond to changing circumstances, and about support that we’ll provide to you.
