Health psychology is the study of psychological and behavioural processes in health, illness, and healthcare. It is concerned with understanding how psychological, behavioural, and cultural factors contribute to physical health and illness.

Health Psychologists promote healthier lifestyles. They try to find ways to encourage people to improve their health and also to improve the healthcare system as a whole. For example, helping people to lose weight or stop smoking, or advising doctors on better ways to communicate with their patients.

You’ll learn to use your knowledge of psychology to promote general wellbeing and understand physical illness. We will teach you the skills needed to help people deal with the psychological and emotional aspects of health and illness, and to support people who are chronically ill.

Our MSc Health Psychology has a strong experiential focus and emphasises the application of health psychology to real world settings. The course includes contributions from healthcare practitioners. You will carry out a brief placement in a healthcare setting, which can include the NHS, third sector (charities) or industry, and you’ll usually arrange this placement yourself with support from the course team. You are encouraged to carry out research in healthcare contexts where possible.

This Masters in Health Psychology is designed to meet the British Psychological Society’s requirements for Stage One training towards professional Health Psychologist status. Through formal teaching and practical experience, you’ll acquire relevant skills and core competencies as a basis for professional training in health psychology (Stage Two) or other applications of psychology to health issues.

Health Psychology is one of the fastest growing areas of applied psychology and our Masters provides you with the first stage of professional training towards becoming a health psychologist. Students intending to go on to become registered Health Psychologists can achieve this by working in healthcare or in academic posts. Scotland is unique in offering a two-year NHS-funded training course for Stage Two health psychology trainees.

Health Psychologists are employed in various settings: 

• health assessments and management strategies for chronically ill patients, for example, those with cancer or chronic pain
• rehabilitation programmes, e.g. for patients with coronary heart disease
• working with patients and carers in palliative care
• working with primary health care teams in the community
• health education and health promotion in educational or industrial settings
• conducting evaluative research in order to provide a research evidence base for health policy decisions.
• influencing health behaviours, for example in smoking cessation programmes, weight reduction, or sexual health
• carrying out teaching and research in academic settings
• teaching and training health care providers

More information about Health Psychology in general, BPS Chartership and careers can be found at the British Psychological Society, Division of Health Psychology website http://www.bps.org.uk/dhp/