DOC DHealthPsych Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology
- Entry year:
- 2025/26
- Start date:
- January
- Study mode:
- Full-time
- Course duration:
- 27 months
- Campus:
- City
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.
Debi's Story
Course modules
Discover the building blocks of your programme
Further guidance on modules
Modules are designated core or optional in accordance with professional body requirements, as applicable, and LJMU’s Academic Framework Regulations. Whilst you are required to study core modules, optional modules provide you with an element of choice. Their availability may vary and will be subject to meeting minimum student numbers.
Where changes to modules are necessary these will be communicated as appropriate.
Core modules
Professional accreditation
The programme is BPS accredited for Stage 2 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 2 training.
Your Learning Experience
An insight into teaching on your course
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.
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.
Where you will study
What you can expect from your School
The School is based in LJMUs 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.
Course tutors
Dr Rachel Tarling
- Programme Leader
The most rewarding aspect of my role is supporting MSc students in developing their career ambitions, particularly those who aspire to become Health Psychologists.
The most rewarding aspect of my role is supporting MSc students in developing their career ambitions, particularly those who aspire to become Health Psychologists.
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.
Career paths
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.
Tuition fees and funding
- Home full-time per year:
- £7,825
Fees
The fees quoted above cover registration, tuition, supervision, assessment and examinations as well as library membership and student IT support with access to printed, multimedia and digital resources including programme-appropriate software and on campus wifi.
Financial Support
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. The University offers a range of financial support for students. You'll find all the information you need on our specialist financial support pages including details of the Student Support Fund and other activities to support with the cost of living.
Additional Costs
In addition to fees, students should also keep in mind the cost of:
- Accommodation
- Travel costs and field trips unless paid for by LJMU
- Stationery, IT equipment, professional body membership and graduation gown hire
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.
Entry requirements
You will need:
Qualification requirements
How to apply
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.
Please note: There are only seven places available per year and competition can be strong. We therefore recommend early application. Both January 2024 and January 2025 entry are currently fully subscribed. For January 2026 entry, we anticipate the course will be full by late summer 2025.
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 Programme Director: Dr Rachel Tarling at r.m.tarling@ljmu.ac.uk
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