MSc Health Psychology

Interest in health psychology is growing rapidly among psychologists and other health service and occupational health professionals mostly thanks to the shifting emphasis in provision and governance of healthcare in the UK, and changes to the NHS' organisation and mission.

As a health psychologist, you'll provide valuable insights to a range of activities, and your skills will be highly sought-after in roles across the NHS, in private practice and in the charitable sector.

You may be providing psychological assessment and support in acute care situations, managing the psychological care and rehabilitation of people with chronic illnesses, or getting involved in health promotion activities including smoking cessation and dietary management.

There are also opportunities, after the MSc Health Psychology, to go on to academic teaching and research positions.

Psychology at UWE Bristol has particular strengths in teaching and research in the area of health psychology, and provides Masters and PhD programmes.

The faculty is also home to the world-leading Centre for Appearance Research, the Centre for Health and Clinical Research, and the Centre for Understanding Social Practice as well as the Institute for Sustainability, Health and the Environment.

You'll be among experts whose knowledge and experience feeds directly into the course's taught modules and supporting resources.

Careers

Our graduates have gone on to a variety of careers in the NHS and private sectors, helping individuals, groups and wider society reap the benefits of an advanced understanding the links between psychology and health.

The skills and knowledge you'll have gained through this programme will be highly sought-after, and opportunities will arise in a range of roles.

For example, as a trainee Health Psychologist, as an advisor on health promotion, pain management, smoking cessation initiatives, Public Health matters and mental health issues.

You can also consider roles in Medical Training, or as an academic lecturer.

After completing the MSc, you will need to complete Stage 2 training to become a Practitioner Health Psychologist. There are a number of ways you can do this, one of which is our Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology. Graduates from this programme are guaranteed an interview for the Professional Doctorate.

For further details of Stage 2 training, visit the Division of Health Psychology.

Entry requirements

You must have a minimum 2:1 honours degree in Psychology or a closely related discipline. In exceptional circumstances, applicants with substantive relevant work experience or further training and a strong academic background will be considered, however we are unable to accept applicants without an undergraduate degree in psychology or a closely related discipline. Please contact the programme leader if you are unsure whether your academic background is suitable preparation for this programme.

We particularly welcome graduates with appropriate experience in health psychology, and those who have been employed as health or related settings are encouraged to apply. Previous successful applicants have had a wide range of health-related experience including working as nurses, health care assistants, admin in a health setting, health promotion, psychology assistant posts, research assistants, teaching. Newer graduates with an academic background incorporating health psychology with a plan for acquiring health-related work experience alongside the programme are also welcome to apply.

Applicants should be able to demonstrate:

• Some experience with statistics, e.g. T tests, ANOVA, correlation, regression
• An understanding of experimental methods in psychology the scientific method, between subject designs, within subject designs, confounding variables, psychological measurement etc
• An understanding of basic cognitive processes memory, attention, schema
• An understanding of basic psychobiology the stress response, sleep
• An understanding of human learning operant and classical conditioning, social learning theory
• An understanding of depression, anxiety, other psychological disorders