Program Overview

BSc (Hons) Health, Wellbeing and Care in Society

Overview

The BSc (Hons) Health, Wellbeing and Care in Society degree gives you the opportunity to gain critical understanding of integrated health and social care welfare structures and processes, as well as advanced theoretical knowledge and skills in practice and management in the sector. The completion of a work placement enables you to gain practical, real-world experience of a health and social care working environment.

Why us?

• Our BSc (Hons) Health, Wellbeing and Care in Society course has a 100% positivity score for how teaching staff make the subject engaging (National Student Survey, 2023)
• Students have participated in extracurricular activities such as volunteering for local support organisations and attending lectures from guest speakers
• Be taught by practitioners with first-hand experience of working in the health and social care sector

Course structure

The range of modules available during the Health, Wellbeing and Care in Society degree are both academically and vocationally focused. You'll be provided with a detailed understanding of health and social care theory, policy, and practice, and will also be supported to understand key contemporary issues that influence health, social care, and the wellbeing of individuals and communities – a topic of global significance. Across all modules, the inclusion of formative work will support you with your learning.

Year 1 (national level 4):

• Supporting Academic Transitions in Higher Education (30 credits)
  • Gain an introduction to the academic literacy practices required to perform successfully at university to support your academic transition into higher education.
• Foundations of Policy, Practice and Health Inequalities (30 credits)
  • Explore the central concerns of health and social care knowledge, topics, issues, and service users from the origins of the Welfare State through to contemporary society.
• The Whole Person: Biopsychosocial Perspectives in Health and Social Care (30 credits)
  • Consider the role that biology, psychology, and sociology may play in inherent individual behaviour, to understand the complexities of individual and collective behaviour in contemporary society.
• Safeguarding Vulnerability: Protecting Ourselves and Others (30 credits)
  • Explore theories around ethics and care and apply these to real-life case studies for health and social care professionals who work with vulnerable adults and children.

Year 2 (national level 5):

• Core modules:
  • Community Engagement: Students and Communities – Partners for Progress (30 credits)
    • Learn through active collaboration, using problem-based learning to contribute to understanding real-life problems.
  • Becoming a Social Researcher in Health and Social Care (30 credits)
    • Develop an understanding of the range of approaches to research and the theoretical, ethical, and practical considerations that go into designing, conducting, and disseminating good quality research in health and social care.
  • Challenging Lifestyle Killers and Inequalities in Health (30 credits)
    • Study the concepts, theories, and models underpinning contemporary health promotion and lifestyle behaviour change.
• Optional modules (choose one):
  • Health and Wellbeing Across the Life-course (30 credits)
    • Explore significant critical periods in health and illness from before birth, through childbirth, early years, childhood, youth, and into adult years.
  • Communication and Counselling Skills (30 credits)
    • Explore the importance of communication skills in health and social care practice and settings.

Year 3 (national level 6):

• Being a Social Researcher in Health and Social Care (30 credits)
  • Enhance your critical thinking through investigating a dissertation subject in depth and consolidate prior learning.
• The Unheard Voice: Challenging Biomedicine (30 credits)
  • Examine and critique the biopsychosocial model of health and illness through the exploration of Somatisation and Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD).
• Social Justice in Action: Community Interventions (30 credits)
  • Engage in critical debate of key issues in community practice in relation to personal health and wellbeing, human development, and social justice.
• Contemporary Issues in Health and Social Care: Challenges and Responses (30 credits)
  • Critically explore national and global challenging health and social care problems facing us today and examine the social causes behind them.

Facilities

You'll be based at the recently refurbished Wearside View, situated on the award-winning Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter's. This stunning riverside location benefits from dedicated library services and has superb transport links with the city centre and City Campus.

Entry requirements

Our typical offer is:

• Irish Leaving Certificate: 112 UCAS points – Students must have H1-H7 or O1-O4 in Maths & English.
• QQI/FETAC 5: Pass profile overall. For entry we also require H1-H7 or O1-O4 in Maths and English from Irish Leaving Certificate.

If your qualification is not listed above, please contact the Student Administration team at [insert email] for further advice.

Fees and finance

The annual, full-time fee for this course is:

• £9,535 if you are from the UK/Europe
• £16,500 if you are an international student

Career ready

Our BSc (Hons) Health, Wellbeing and Care in Society graduates work with a variety of service user groups in areas such as mental health, domestic abuse, substance abuse, and older people. They work for organisations such as the NHS, Local Authorities, schools, colleges, and universities, as well as charities or private organisations such as Age UK, MIND, and Turning Point to name a few.

Further study is also a route chosen by many of our graduates. Some choose professional routes such as nursing, social work, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, counselling, or teaching. Others choose business and management routes such as human resources, or research degrees such as a PhD.