What is Health Psychology MSc?

Health Psychologists apply psychological knowledge and skills in clinical and community settings. They contribute to the prevention of illness and the promotion of health and wellbeing. They design and implement interventions to improve the experience and outcomes for those who are ill or disabled and for their carers – as well as helping to shape the policies and systems which affect healthcare.

Our BPS accredited Health Psychology MSc adopts a critical and holistic perspective on the experience of health and wellbeing, recognising the importance of social, cultural and economic factors. The significance of these factors has been highlighted during the COVID-19 crisis, where we have witnessed the importance of social support networks and economic assets to the physical and mental wellbeing of different demographic groups. The pandemic has also shown the impact of national policy and community focus on the health of frontline workers themselves.

In this course, we equip students with the skills and expertise to work within the broad and growing field of Health Psychology. Our design adopts a perspective that health occurs within multiple nested contexts, and that whatever the issue, multiple actions are necessary at multiple levels. Modules address the experience of ill health, individual factors in health, and community factors in health. This situates understanding from the perspective of the client, rather than the bystanding expert.

Supported by numerous partnerships with community and voluntary sector organisations, in addition to NHS health psychology services, our ethos includes an underpinning commitment to social justice, and a recognition of the potential of health psychology to contribute to transformative action.

Study style

You will be taught by an enthusiastic team of clinicians and academics with diverse research and practice interests, including vaccine hesitancy, living well with long-term health conditions, nature and health, social network analysis, adherence and behaviour change, and many more. You will be assigned a personal tutor and a dissertation supervisor to support you in your studies. The course is taught via a mixture of interactive lectures and workshops.

You will explore a range of theory and knowledge to underpin your understanding of the role of psychology in health and healthcare, and also develop the personal skills you need for professional work in the sector.

The course takes evidence-based practice as a framework for advancing your research skills – assessing issues, designing interventions and evaluating outcomes. You will analyse public health issues using large data sets, and using narrative and other qualitative methods in health psychology research.

Assessment has been designed to develop the knowledge and skills required of critically reflective and ethical scientist-practitioners, and where possible they reflect the type of real-world activities and problems faced by professional health psychologists. Tasks for assessment include preparation of reflective portfolios, systematic reviews, case studies, public health reports and presentations, and intervention and evaluation design.

We have a strong emphasis on community, with weekly TeamTime sessions and student-led discussions. We also strive to nurture individual interests and career ambitions.