Psychological Approaches to Health MSc

Course overview

This course combines the application of psychological theory with current research to improve health and healthcare delivery. Psychological Approaches to Health (MSc) is ideal for those students inspired by psychology and wanting to pursue a career in psychology, health promotion, research or healthcare.

Areas you’ll explore more in-depth include:

• Obesity.
• Medical error.
• Behaviour change and psychological wellbeing.
• Impact of new health interventions.
• The effects of multidisciplinary teamwork in healthcare.
• Concerns of healthcare delivery such as patient safety, government policy and economics.

The course draws on theories derived primarily from health and social psychology but also cognitive, biological and clinical psychology. The topics delivered will develop your understanding and knowledge of how to promote healthy behaviours and reduce unhealthy behaviours, issues around patient safety such as the causes and consequences of medical error, as well as obesity, weight loss, malnutrition and anorexia of ageing.

You will also develop a range of statistical, methodological and practical skills around systematic reviewing of evidence from primary studies and conducting health-related studies/experiments, as well as transferable skills including critical thinking, team working and communication.

The course will be delivered through interactive seminars, practicals, tutorials, lectures and group/problem-based learning approaches.

You'll be taught and supervised by subject experts at the forefront of current research, actively publishing in their areas of expertise. This gives you the opportunity to learn from those currently working with the NHS, industry, and charities to improve health outcomes.

We offer high quality research-led teaching and you’ll be actively encouraged to engage in ongoing research. Much of this research is collaborative with government departments, research councils, the NHS and industry.

We offer a lively learning environment with modern facilities for teaching and research, which aims to produce graduates equipped with current knowledge and the ability to apply this to key health issues.

Facilities

We have over 70 members of academic, research and support staff, including 12 professors. The School is renowned for high quality research, much of it in collaboration with government departments, research councils, the NHS and industry.

The School of Psychology has excellent facilities to support your learning and allow you to participate and conduct novel research. We have dedicated computer laboratories, EEG equipment for measuring the brain's electrical activity, the human appetite research unit with its state-of-the-art facilities and exceptionally well-resourced libraries, giving you access to contemporary research outputs within the discipline.

In addition to this there is a wide range of other specialised equipment to support research and teaching. We offer a lively learning environment with modern facilities for teaching and research and a comfortable student lounge. The size of the School and range of its activities combine to provide a varied and exciting environment in which to study and work.

Applying

Entry requirements

A bachelor degree with a 2:1 (hons) in psychology or a discipline containing a substantial amount of psychology and research methods training. In addition, successful applicants will normally have at least a UK upper second class grade or equivalent in research methods-related modules taken as part of their undergraduate degree.

We accept a range of international equivalent qualifications. For information contact the School of Psychology Taught Postgraduate Admissions Team.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in any component. For other English qualifications, read English language equivalent qualifications.

Improve your English

International students who do not meet the English language requirements for this programme may be able to study our postgraduate pre-sessional English course, to help improve your English language level.

This pre-sessional course is designed with a progression route to your degree programme and you’ll learn academic English in the context of your subject area. To find out more, read Language for Science (6 weeks) and Language for Science: General Science (10 weeks).

We also offer online pre-sessionals alongside our on-campus pre-sessionals. Find out more about our six week online pre-sessional and our 10 week online pre-sessional.

You can also study pre-sessionals for longer periods – read about our postgraduate pre-sessional English courses.

Career opportunities

This course was designed to be versatile and opens up a range of career paths for our graduates.

It is highly suitable for students wishing to pursue a research-oriented path, as the MSc course forms a sound basis for further PhD study.

The wide coverage of cognition and its development in healthy and clinical groups supports paths into careers including clinical and educational psychology.