2025/26 entry Applications also open for 2024/25
DHealthPsych Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology | Part-time
About this course
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 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.
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Professional body recognition
The programme is BPS accredited for Stage 1 Training in Health Psychology for those applicants with BPS Graduate Basis for Chartered Status (GBC). This means, by the end of the course, you will be provided with a qualification which meets the requirements of Stage 1 training.
Fees and funding
There are many ways to fund postgraduate study for home and international students
Fees
The fees quoted at the top of this page cover registration, tuition, supervision, assessment and examinations as well as:
- library membership with access to printed, multimedia and digital resources
- access to programme-appropriate software
- library and student IT support
- free on-campus wifi via eduroam
Additional costs
Although not all of the following are compulsory/relevant, you should keep in mind the costs of:
- accommodation and living expenditure
- books (should you wish to have your own copies)
- printing, photocopying and stationery
- PC/laptop (should you prefer to purchase your own for independent study and online learning activities)
- mobile phone/tablet (to access online services)
- field trips (travel and activity costs)
- placements (travel expenses and living costs)
- student visas (international students only)
- study abroad opportunities (travel costs, accommodation, visas and immunisations)
- academic conferences (travel costs)
- professional-body membership
- graduation (gown hire etc)
Funding
There are many ways to fund postgraduate study for home and international students. From loans to International Scholarships and subject-specific funding, you’ll find all of the information you need on our specialist postgraduate funding pages.
Please be aware that the UK’s departure from the EU may affect your tuition fees. Learn more about your fee status and which tuition fees are relevant to you.
You can pay your tuition fees in instalments over the year and if you are taking out a masters loan, you can align your tuition fee payments to the same dates you will receive your masters loan payments. Read more about fee payments in our Postgraduate Fees and Funding section.
PLEASE NOTE: The Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology (along with The Professional Doctorate in Applied Sport and Exercise Science and Professional Doctorate in Sport and Exercise Psychology) is not eligible for the LJMU Alumni Award if the 20% discount has already been used for an alternative LJMU programme.
Employability
Further your career prospects
LJMU has an excellent employability record with 96% (HESA 2018) 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.
The student experience
Discover life as a postgraduate student at LJMU.
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Course modules
Discover the building blocks of your programme
Your programme is made up of a number of core modules which are part of the course framework. Some programmes also have optional modules that can be selected to enhance your learning in certain areas and many feature a dissertation, extended report or research project to demonstrate your advanced learning.
Core modules
Planning Training in Health Psychology
30 credits
This module's primary objective is to assess the trainee's capacity to align their training with the national competences for health psychologists, and to showcase a critical self-assessment of their developmental plan. It serves as the introductory module for the DHealthPsy program, focusing on aiding trainees in crafting a training plan akin to the one mandated by the British Psychological Society for their Stage II Qualification in Health Psychology. Additionally, it encourages reflective thinking by using a SWOT analysis to evaluate the training plan.
Professional Practice in Health Psychology
270 credits
This module focuses on Consultancy, Teaching and Training, Behaviour Change Interventions and Research. It aims to capture the professional competencies of:
- research
- consultancy
- behaviour change interventions
- teaching and training
in Health Psychology, over the period of training.
Reflection in Health Psychology
60 credits
This module serves as the culmination of the DHealthPsy program. It is designed to prepare students for their future roles as health psychologists by enabling them to reflect on their development, choices, and decisions throughout their training. The primary objective of this module is for trainees to demonstrate their comprehensive professional skills development and their capacity for reflective and meta-reflective thinking about their development, choices, and decisions made throughout their training.
Teaching
An insight into teaching on your course
Applicants must have a suitable pre-determined placement (paid or voluntary) before undertaking the course.
Study hours
All teaching is on Thursdays (mostly fortnightly) and in the slots 10-1pm and 2-5pm, 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
How learning is monitored on your programme
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 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.
Course tutors
Our staff are committed to the highest standards of teaching and learning
Dr Rachel Tarling
Programme Leader
Rachel is a Registered Health Psychologist (HCPC), Chartered Psychologist (BPS) and Associate Fellow of the BPS (AFBPsS). She is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Authority. As an academic and health services researcher she has implemented health psychology practice to improve healthcare/health services, particularly in the areas of screening prevention and early diagnosis (SPED), contributing nationally to the cancer agenda. She is passionate about the advancement of health psychology in knowledge transfer and professional activity, for example, in her role as Deputy Chair of the Division of Health Psychology Training Committee (BPS), she is a national professional UK accreditor for MSc and Professional Doctorate (stage 1 & 2) courses in Health Psychology. She is Director of the Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology at LJMU, and the Chair for the Institute of Health Research, Cancer Special Interest Group.
School facilities
What you can expect from your School
The School is based in LJMU’s City Campus at the Byrom Street site, which is located in the heart of Liverpool city centre, and offers postgraduates excellent laboratory and research facilities, including appetite laboratories, psychology testing labs and neuroscience labs.
Entry requirements
You will need:
Qualification requirements
Postgraduate degree (required for research programmes)
- a BPS Accredited MSc in Health Psychology (or BPS Stage I Qualification), normally at merit level or higher
Undergraduate degree
- a good honours degree in Psychology and GBC
Additional requirements
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Interview required
- All candidates will be interviewed
International requirements
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IELTS
- IELTS 7.0 (minimum 6.5 in each component)
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Other international requirements
- International students applying to study a full-time taught Masters, MRes, MPhil or PhD at LJMU should check if they require an Academic Technology Approval Scheme or ATAS certificate
- International students entering on a student visa cannot study part-time
Further information
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Extra Requirements
To become a Health Psychologist, you must have the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership from the British Psychological Society and fulfil a number of requirements:
- Stage 1 training involves the satisfactory completion of an accredited Masters programme - such as MSc Health Psychology at LJMU
- Stage 2 training includes two or more years spent acquiring a range of supervised skills connected with professional skills, interventions, consultancy, research, and teaching and training (as facilitated through this course)
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RPL
- RPL is accepted on this programme
Application and selection
Securing your place at LJMU
To apply for this programme, you are required to complete an LJMU online application form. You will need to provide details of previous qualifications and a personal statement outlining why you wish to study this programme.
To help you to maximise your application success, and due to the nature of the programme, discussions with us - prior to application - are strongly advised. Please contact Co-Programme Leaders: Dr Lisa Newson l.m.newson@ljmu.ac.uk or Dr Rachel Tarling r.m.tarling@ljmu.ac.uk
The University reserves the right to withdraw or make alterations to a course and facilities if necessary; this may be because such changes are deemed to be beneficial to students, are minor in nature and unlikely to impact negatively upon students or become necessary due to circumstances beyond the control of the University. Where this does happen, the University operates a policy of consultation, advice and support to all enrolled students affected by the proposed change to their course or module.