Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology (3 years)

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
• Option to study 27 months Full-time, 4 years Part-time or 6 years Part-time

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.

Course modules

Core modules

• 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
    • interventions
    • teaching and training
  • in Health Psychology, over the period of training.
• 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.
• 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.

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

Teaching Assessment

Study hours

All teaching is on Thursdays (mostly fortnightly) and in the slots 10am-1pm and 2pm-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.

Career paths

Further your career prospects

LJMU has an excellent employability record with 94% (HESA 2022) of our postgraduates in work or further study fifteen 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 International

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

Full-time per year:

• £18,250

International Scholarships and payment plans

Liverpool John Moores University is committed to supporting international students by providing a range of scholarships and flexible payment plans to help students manage their tuition fees.

Scholarships

LJMU provides a variety of postgraduate scholarships to support international students. Scholarships are available to self-funded students who have accepted their offer and met all the conditions outlined in their offer letter. Students must also demonstrate that they can cover living costs, travel, and other expenses associated to studying at the university. Postgraduate scholarships include tuition fee reductions and are often offered in partnership with external funding organisations such as the British Council and Chevening.

All self-funded international students are eligible for an automatic scholarship worth up to £4,000. For more details and to view our full list of scholarships, visit the international scholarship webpages.

Deposit

All students must pay a £5,000 deposit before they can receive their CAS letter.

For more information view our deposit page.

Tuition Fee Payment Plan

After paying their £5,000 deposit, students have the option to pay their fees in full or in three equal instalments minus any internal scholarships and discounts. There are two payment options available for international students. You can either pay your tuition fees in full before enrolment or opt for a payment plan. With the payment plan, you can pay your fees in three instalments after making your £5,000 deposit. The first instalment is due before enrolment.

All payments should be made through Flywire. Full details can be found in the How to Pay Guide.

Early Bird Tuition Fee discount

We are excited to introduce a £500 Early Payment Discount to all self-funded international students. Eligible self-funded students who pay their fees by the required deadlines will get a discount which will be automatically deducted from the 1st year of tuition fees.

To see the required deadlines please visit the webpage

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:

Home

Qualification requirements

• BPS GBC
• A BPS accredited MSc Health Psychology, normally at least at merit level
• A pre-arranged work placement of at least one year which can be evidenced at interview. This is normally full-time employment, or voluntary work, or a combination of both. A mixture of part-time roles can be acceptable, provided that the total amount of work across all placements/employment is in line with the enrolment status of the trainee, i.e. full or part-time. Placements are not normally arranged by the university, but by the trainee.
• Evidence of employer support for the programme of study, to be evidenced at interview
• Successful performance at interview
• Acceptable references from three sources
• Applicants whose graduate study was undertaken in languages other than English will need to demonstrate English language proficiency to the level of an IELTS overall score of 7 with no element below 6.5

Alternative qualifications considered

Please Note: All international qualifications are subject to a qualification equivalency check.

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: Applications are open for January 2026 intake. However, there are only ten places available per year and competition can be strong. We therefore recommend early application.

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

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Overview:

Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) is a public university located in Liverpool, England. It is a large and diverse institution with a strong focus on providing high-quality education and research opportunities.

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