MSc Health Psychology
Professor Rona Moss-Morris and Dr Joe Chilcot are the co-directors of the MSc Health Psychology programme at the Institute of Psychiatry. They both talk about the new leading MSc in the following video:
Applying to the MSc in Health Psycholog
An overview of the BPS accredited MSc in Health Psychology is available in our online prospectus.
We welcome applications from graduate psychologists who want to go on to obtain British Psychological Society's (BPS) and Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) recognition as a registered health psychologist.
The MSc in Health Psychology provides students with the knowledge and skills for achieving BPS Stage 1 postgraduate training in Health Psychology.
If you are an overseas student and would like clarity about this please contact our admissions tutor: Dr Joseph Chilcot. For general enquiries about a current application or an application in preparation please contact our MSc administrator.
This is an entirely new MSc in Health Psychology with a new structure and approach designed to best compliment the British Psychological Society's syllabus and reflect current research and professional practice.
The new course structure will include the following modules:
Health Related Behaviours, Cognitions and Emotions
Psychosocial factors of Chronic Illness and Disability
Psychology and Health Care Delivery
Health Psychology in Action & Professional Development
Basic and Advanced Research Methods and Statistics
Research Project.
Why study the MSc in Health Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry?
The Health Psychology section at the Institute of Psychiatry 's Psychology Department is internationally recognised for excellence in teaching and research. IoP Health Psychology staff have been at the forefront of establishing Health Psychology as a recognised clinical and academic discipline in the UK. It is a leading centre for clinical health psychology and a centre for excellence in health psychology in public health. The section has an international reputation for developing psychological interventions in order to improve health, well being and recovery for individual patients and populations.
Health Psychology is part of the IoP Department of Psychology, one of the world’s largest groupings of clinical and health psychologists. Health Psychology additionally benefits from long established partnerships with KCL School of Medicine, the Dental Institute, the School of Nursing and Midwifery, the School of Biomedical Sciences, and with regional health care providers including King’s Health Partners.
Students enrolled on the MSc in Health Psychology will benefit from being taught by experts from within the IoP and visiting lecturers from our wider network. Our MSc Health Psychology has a significant clinical focus, with a sustained 8-10 week clinical placement with the option to extend for the dissertation project. This and our extensive seminar programme supports students to establishing professional connections with leading researchers and clinicians in their field
Why study at the Institute of Psychiatry
The Institute of Psychiatry (IoP), a school of King’s College London, is one of the world’s leading postgraduate teaching and research centres in mental health related sciences. For psychiatry and psychology, the Institute is the second most cited research centre in the world – and the single largest outside the US. Our academics consistently rank among the most influential researchers, nationally and internationally, and the Institute is a recognised WHO collaborating centre. Students have access to first class resources, including the largest library in Europe dedicated to psychiatry and related disciplines.
The IoP and Health Psychology benefit from King’s College London’s pioneering collaboration with three NHS trusts (Guys and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital and South London and Maudsley) to create the UK’s largest Academic Health Science Centre: King’s Health Partners. King’s Health Partners welcome and support our clinical placements and encourage research partnerships for student dissertations, bringing together the widest range of clinical and research experience in the UK.
What our alumni say
I became interested in the MSc at Kings as I felt the course complimented my job and would provide me with new knowledge and challenges. The course covered both psychological aspects to health and how psychologists could contribute to health care delivery. This dual aspect was very important to me as I felt the programme provided an overall view to past, present and future issues in healthcare. I selected Kings College for their reputation on conducting excellent research and being a world leader in health care initiatives. I was lucky enough to work on some interesting and innovative research in a welcoming and supportive environment. The course has helped me realise what I like and where my skills are best suited so I may enjoy a long and successful career in health and psychology.
Leanne: 2009-2011
Leanne studied on the MSc part-time whilst also working for a PCT
I was a journalist with a particular interest in medicine and psychology, and taking the MSc in Health Psychology gave me a wonderful opportunity to study my interests in depth. The solid grounding I got from the course enabled me to win an MRC studentship to carry out a PhD into psychological aspects of intensive care. At present I am continuing that research, and working for a healthcare agency designing psychological interventions to support patients with chronic conditions. I feel that the MSc prepared me really well to take up all these opportunities and I’m very glad that I did it.
Dorothy: 2005-6
Dorothy is now a post-doc at UCH where she is developing a measure which nurses can use to assess the psychological impact of intensive care, and developing and testing an intervention to both reduce psychological distress in patients in intensive care and to prevent later ptsd.
The development of the MSc in Health Psychology
Our academics including Emeritus Professor John Weinman, have been at the forefront of developing accredited academic and professional training programmes in Health Psychology. King's College London has offered an MSc in Health Psychology since 1987.
In the following video Prof. Weinman talks about the foundation of the MSc: