Bridging the gap between medicine and psychology, the course focuses on understanding the behavioural processes around health and sickness. This programme will allow students to develop the knowledge and skills necessary for research and practice as a Health Psychologist. The programme covers a wide-range of approaches, from advanced research methods, through to a working and evidence-based knowledge of theory and behaviour change interventions.
Much like our undergraduate programme, this course will adopt a personalised teaching style built on creating relationships between students and staff. All modules use a tutorial style of teaching, in which students are taught weekly in groups of 7 or fewer, allowing for regular quality contact time with your lecturer. It is through this method that students can achieve excellence in their qualification in a supportive environment.
Over the course of the programme, you will develop a strong knowledge base and skill-set appropriate for professional practice in Health Psychology. You’ll learn to analyse, debate, discuss and devise behaviour change interventions for use in primary, secondary and community care. We encourage autonomy in design and analysis of research, allowing you to develop your skills towards becoming an independent researcher, with an increased awareness of the practical reality of working with short- and long-term health conditions.
This is a one year, full-time programme accepting students in both September and January. Alongside the taught modules, there will be opportunities for you to gain practical work experience from our collaborations with Milton Keynes, Stoke Mandeville and Northampton General Hospitals. Taught modules include:
All modules are assessed by a combination of two assignments. Assignments differ according to the module requirements, but include a variety of assessment styles over the programme including written examinations, research reports, critical reflections and role plays.
Further information can be found on the University Course Finder: http://www.buckingham.ac.uk/sciences/msc/health-psychology
At Buckingham (http://www.buckingham.ac.uk/psychology) we pride ourselves on creating a positive learning environment based on a supportive, tutorial style of learning which is unique in the UK. All modules offer weekly, small-group learning in addition to traditional lectures and seminars, which creates unprecedented student-staff contact time and relationships (Top for Student-Staff Ratio in the UK, Top for Student Experience in the UK, Times & Sunday Times, 2017). It is this philosophy which we believe has kept the University at the top of the National Student Survey for over a decade (Top for Student Satisfaction in the UK, National Student Survey 2006-2016).
As a Department and a University we’re rapidly expanding, but strive to maintain the community feel which makes us different to other providers. We put great emphasis on individual attention to students, both academic and pastoral care. If you come to Buckingham you will certainly not get ‘lost in a crowd’, but instead get to know your lecturers and benefit from our passion for high quality teaching (Top for Teaching Quality in the UK, Times & Sunday Times, 2017; TEF Gold, 2017) and thriving research environment.
The MSc in Health Psychology sits within the Centre for Health and Relationship Research (CHR). The CHR is a research hub focusing upon research in five core areas: Pain, Social Support, Sexual & Reproductive Health, Spinal Cord Injury, and Health in Vulnerable Populations. The research hub aims to draw together research from clinical and non-clinical populations, based in the Department of Psychology and School of Medicine at the University of Buckingham, Stoke Mandeville Hospital Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and health and social care-related organisations based in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire.
Find out more here: https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/research/chr
