Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology

LJMU's Prof Doc in Health Psychology meets the requirements for BPS Stage Two training in Health Psychology and leads to eligibility for registration with the HCPC.

• Choose this programme which meets the requirements for BPS Stage Two training in health psychology and leads to eligibility to apply for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
• Benefit from studying on a course that is British Psychological Society (BPS) accredited and HCPC approved
• Experience quality training and supervision on a course underpinned by high-grade research and practice activity 
• Learn from enthusiastic, expert staff offering supportive learning opportunities
• Enjoy career opportunities in the health industry, healthcare provision, teaching and research

Health psychology is an exciting new discipline with growing opportunities for qualified professionals. 

The DHealthPsych programme is underpinned by a strong focus on equipping the future Health Psychologist for a range of professional scenarios. In keeping with the nationally agreed curriculum competences for Health Psychologists, you will be developing your skills in teaching and training, behaviour change interventions, research, consultancy and demonstrating that you have the generic professional skills needed to qualify in this field. This is achieved through your own job role, taught sessions on the programme and extensive supervision.

Staff in the School of Natural Sciences and Psychology produce high quality research in a range of areas in health psychology. Areas of expertise include pain, disability, patient-reported outcome measurement, positive psychology, obesity and health cognition. Staff have long-standing expertise in training and developing future Health Psychologists.

Course modules

Your programme is made up of a number of core modules as detailed below.

• Planning Training in Health Psychology (30 credits)
• Professional Practice in Health Psychology (270 credits)
• Reflection in Health Psychology (60 credits)

Study hours

All teaching is on Thursdays (mostly fortnightly) and in the slots 10am-12pm and 2pm-4pm, leaving you some time in the day to meet with your supervisor. Sessions are formally scheduled from January to May/June and September to December in year one and on an ad hoc basis in subsequent years.

Teaching methods

In keeping with the nationally agreed curriculum competences for Health Psychologists, you will be developing your skills in teaching and training, behaviour change interventions, research, consultancy and demonstrating that you have the generic professional skills needed to qualify in this field. This is achieved through your own job role, taught sessions on the programme and extensive supervision.

Applied learning

Applicants must have a suitable pre-determined placement (paid or voluntary) before undertaking the course.

Assessment

To cater for the wide-ranging content of our courses and the varied learning preferences of our students, we offer a range of assessment methods on each programme. Assessment techniques vary from module to module to reflect relevant assessment approaches and the key learning points of each topic.

Assessment methods include: a log and diary of professional practice, case studies, reflections on each competence and a viva voce examination. In terms of research, you will produce a number of publishable papers and submit them to peer-reviewed journals.

Employability

LJMU has an excellent employability record with 96% (HESA 2017) of our postgraduates in work or further study six months after graduation. Our applied learning techniques and strong industry connections ensure our students are fully prepared for the workplace on graduation and understand how to apply their knowledge in a real world context.

A growing number of health psychology graduates work in health education, health promotion, health administration and health audit. There are also opportunities in the organisational aspects of delivering health care within the health service and in research/teaching. Staff on the course have supervised trainees working in the health service, universities, private healthcare companies including occupational health, health and safety laboratories, pharmaceutical companies, and in private practice offering health coaching and therapeutic interventions.