Master of Psychology (Health)

• General information
• Course structure
  • Coursework
  • Thesis
  • Supervised placements
• Admission requirements

General information

Caulfield Distance education * Coordinator: Ms Sue Burney
The Master of Psychology is a four-year, part-time program, with three components:

• residential attendance and coursework
• supervised placements
• research thesis.

Course structure

Coursework

• MHP5011 Introduction to health psychology
• MHP5021 Professional psychology in rural and remote communities
• MHP5032 Health promotion
• MHP5042 Counselling for rural practitioners
• MHP5051 Psychological treatment of health problems
• MHP5061 Ethical, legal and professional practice issues
• MHP5072 Psychological assessment
• MHP5081 Multivariate statistics

Thesis

The thesis will be expected to provide a significant contribution to knowledge and/or practice in the field of health psychology in rural and remote communities, and to demonstrate the capacity of the student to carry out independent research. The length of the thesis will be approximately 10,000 words.
Students will be expected to adhere to the following schedule:

• literature review to be completed during the second semester of year 2
• research proposal and ethics committee approval by the middle of year 3
• data collection to be completed by the beginning of year 4
• data analysis to be completed by the middle of year 4
• thesis to be completed by the end of year 4.

Supervised placements

Three placements at agencies in rural and remote areas will be undertaken under the supervision of appropriately qualified psychologists. These placements will generally be completed within the semester teaching period and the timing will be as follows:

• MHP5102 Placement I (42 days/335 hours), year 2, semester 1
• MHP5112 Placement II (42 days/335 hours), year 3, semester 1
• MHP5113 Placement III (42 days/335 hours), year 4, semester 2

Admission requirements

As the Master of Psychology utilises the scientist-practitioner model, selection for the course will be rigorous with the goal of selecting highly motivated top-class students. The same standards of academic excellence which apply to acceptance for research masters study will be applied for this program, that being a minimum of a second class honours degree or a distinction grade in a postgraduate diploma in psychology or equivalent. Suitability to the role of a professional working in the public arena will be assessed by interview and referees' reports.
The distance education method of delivery will require access to a personal computer (ideally a Pentium 111), with a minimum memory capacity of 16 MB RAM and a CD-ROM drive to complete assignments and conduct analyses necessary for a research thesis. The student must also have access to the internet.
Students must be registered as a probationary psychologist at beginning of the course to qualify for legal registration as a psychologist in Victoria at the completion of the program.

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