Applied Public Health - MSc/PgD/PgC

​This programme focuses on applying the key principles of multidisciplinary public health practice to the breadth of 21st Century public health challenges. Our aim is to develop reflective public health practitioners capable of designing, implementing and evaluating community-focussed public health interventions – in Wales, the UK and internationally.

Key features of the programme include:

• Assessments that you can tailor to your own interests, experiences and practice – applying public health skills to the issues you are dealing with or most interested in
• A focus on the skills needed for effective public health practice, wherever you work – designed to meet UK professional public health standard, recognised and applicable around the world
• Personalised academic and professional development support – we'll work with you on a one-to-one basis to help you identify your strengths and opportunities to develop, future personal and professional goals and how you can achieve them 

The programme is aimed at anyone with an interest in improving the full range of social, economic and environmental determinants of health: for example, people working in education, health promotion, housing, transport, leisure, environmental health, community development, health & wellbeing partnerships, planning, social services, school nursing, and health visiting (not an exhaustive list!). We welcome applicants from all sectors: public, private and the voluntary & independent sector. The programme retains an international focus, addressing public health issues faced around the world, as well as in Wales and the UK.

Want to know more on what public health is about? Visit the public health section of the Health Careers website. 

Please note: This programme will undergo periodic review in February 2019. As such, course content shown below may change to ensure the programme remains current. Any applicants will be informed of any changes once confirmed.

​Course Content​​

The course is designed as a Masters programme but it has exit points at both postgraduate certificate & diploma level. Reflective practice is integrated into the programme: we’ll encourage you to reflect upon your learning as you progress, culminating in an assessed reflective statement demonstrating the integration and development of your learning and practice through the course of your studies. The dissertation also incorporates a reflective practice element. The programme is available on a part-time and full-time basis; you can also apply to study individual modules on a CPD basis.

For the Postgraduate Certificate, you’ll complete the following modules:

• Assessing Health, Wellbeing & Inequity (20 cred​its): Assess, evaluate and communicate information about the health and wellbeing of populations & communities
• Health Risk Perception & Communication (10 credits): Appraise the sociocultural, emotional and psychological factors that influence responses to threats to population health and wellbeing
• Public Health Policy Development (10 credits): Evaluate the political, social and economic framework within which policies influencing health & wellbeing are developed
• Applied Research Methods and Design (20 credits): Develop the qualitative and quantitative research skills necessary to undertake research and evaluate interventions and day-to-day practice.

For the Postgraduate Diploma, you’ll undertake the above modules, plus the following modules:

• Frameworks for Public Health Intervention (30 credits): Explore approaches to intervention for the protection and improvement of health and wellbeing, and integrate learning from across the programme in the development a coherent multidisciplinary intervention on an identified public health issue.
• Health Protection (20 credits): Assess, prevent and manage risks to health arising from the general environment, communicable disease and environmental health hazards.
• Reflective Public Health Practice (10 credits): Reflect on your learning, practice and experiences in order to evidence the development of your professional public health practice.

To obtain the MSc, you will also complete a Dissertation (60 credits): Design, plan and undertake a piece of independent applied research, and present the findings.

Assessment

To reflect the applied nature of study, the programme contains no unseen written examinations. Instead, teaching and assessment will focus on case studies, exercises & scenarios reflecting contemporary issues in public health practice, often located within your own professional experience and environment. Examples of assessment tasks include: reports, essays, briefings, oral presentations, group work, observed practice scenarios, online tests and posters.

Throughout the programme, the assessment tasks we set will encourage you to select specific topics of study that are relevant to your interests and practice. For example, in the Assessing Health, Wellbeing and Inequity module, you will be asked to assess and evaluate the health and wellbeing of a specified population (in general or focussed on a specific issue/range of issues). You’ll be free to select a population and issue of professional and/or personal interest to you. 

Employability & Careers​

The promotion, protection and improvement of public health are key objectives for the Welsh Government, UK Government and at an international level, as exemplified by the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health.

Our programme is closely mapped to Levels 6 & 7 of the Public Health Skills & Knowledge Framework - the recognised competence framework for public health at all levels in the UK. The programme provides the underpinning knowledge to enable you to pursue UK Public Health Practitioner registration (which requires completion of an assessed portfolio through a recognised development scheme, such as that operated by Public Health Wales – see http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/888/page/49062 for details). Find out more about practitioner registration at the UK Public Health Register website.​

We are also working on a project with Public Health Wales to develop and pilot a scheme to enable recognition of Advanced Practice (Public Health), supported by work-based learning.

Watch this video​ on the NHS Health Careers website to find out more about areas of work in public health.

Visit the Applied Public Health - MSc/PgD/PgC page on the Cardiff Metropolitan University website for more details!