Health Psychology can help to address health challenges affecting people’s day to day lives, prevent illness and foster health and well-being.

This course will train you to develop scientific and practitioner skills in Health Psychology, and to be eligible to become a health psychologist. It is based on real-world placement learning, and includes brief periods of teaching and workshops. 

You'll acquire specific competencies as defined by the British Psychological Society. You'll also gain competence in carrying out a piece of high quality empirical research to a standard publishable in peer review journals.

Supervision is provided by the experienced and enthusiastic health team in Psychology. We have an excellent international reputation in the field of Health Psychology with a record of high quality research into health and health behaviour.

Overseas candidates are expected to commence and undertake most of their training in the UK.

Placements

Placements are an integral part of this course and you can work in a wide range of settings, including the NHS, local government, health and social care, third sector (charities) or other organisations. In most cases you'll identify your own main placement, and this will need to be organised and approved as part of the application and admissions process. Placements can be paid or unpaid, in your own workplace or elsewhere, or can be carried out on a voluntary basis.

Placements must cover at least two broad areas of work. This could be one main placement supplemented by shorter pieces of work elsewhere, or by time split more or less equally between two placements, or they can be sequential over time.

Overseas candidates are expected to start and undertake most of their training in the UK.

Career

Health Psychology is a flexible and broad field of study and this is reflected in the wide variety of work that health psychologists can do.  For example, within health services such as the UK NHS, and also in health and social care, in communities, workplaces and in the third sector (charitable organisations).

Examples of possible roles for qualified Health Psychologists are:

• delivering health assessments and management strategies for chronically ill patients, for example, those with cancer or chronic pain
• providing rehabilitation courses, e.g. for patients with coronary heart disease
• working to support patients and carers in patient support organisations
• behaviour change consultancy 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 courses, weight reduction groups, or with sexual health care providers
• carrying out teaching and research for health care students in academic settings
• teaching and training NHS health and social care professionals – such as pharmacists, dentists, social workers