Advice For Health Psychology Graduate Degree

[Nougat]

Greetings Everyone,

 

I decided recently that I wanted to get my Master's in Health Psychology which is a field I am very passionate about. I currently have a B.A. in Psychology and B.S. in Nutrition (Dietetics). I am leaning more toward research and academia as opposed to applied programs. My predicament is currently there doesn't appear to be too many Master's programs in Health Psychology. Google seems to produce quite a mixed bag of private university degrees and few programs that only offer PhD. I am having trouble deciding if post graduate health psychology degrees are viable and valuable on a masters level. It appears Health Psychology has more clear paths in the U.K. where the field is more well established. Any input is greatly appreciated  .

[HermoineG]

Check San Diego State. They don't have direct 'Health Psychology' MS/MA but a lot of faculties active in Health Psych. Plus they offer stipend to every accepted student.

[juilletmercredi]

Why do you want an MA in health psychology?

 

As you mentioned, there aren't a lot of open direct opportunities for health psychology with a master's.  Health psychology is my field.  If you want to be a clinical health psychologist - and give talk therapy/counseling to people dealing with chronic or serious health issues, for example - you would need to get a PhD in clinical psychology with a health psychology focus or in a clinical health psychology program.  If you want to go into academic research, you can't really do that with an MA in psychology in the U.S.  You would need to get a PhD.

[Nougat]

Thank you for your honest replies PsychChick and juilletmercredi. Giving it more thought, I feel the most excited about teaching people healthy habits, diet, stress management, illness prevention and self care. I can see myself in a variety of settings either teaching classes or counseling individuals. I find working in public health on the back-end appealing or at a clinic. I'd like to find a degree that would both give me these opportunities while also exposing me to the different domains Health Psychology has to offer in order to guide my end result. From where I am at currently, my research has lead me to believe a master's would not be enough to meet my goals. Would I be hurting myself going with the PhD in Health Psychology or would the more broad PhD in Clinical with health psychology focus be the way? Having trouble determining the differences, but it would also seem that it almost would depend on the program each school offers. Again thanks for you input as I work through this.

[VulpesZerda]

I have similar interests to what you mentioned above -- I want to understand the mechanisms that drive unhealthy/risk behaviors, and I want to look into promotion of good health behaviors, and maybe even intervention research. To give you an idea of where this is leading me...I'm applying to social psych/general psych PhDs that have a department or faculty research focus on health (prevention and promotion). I am also applying to two public health PhDs because the research is essentially the same, despite coursework differences. I believe this path will lead me to a job in research: either with the government or in academia.

 

The way you phrased your interests is somewhat different than how I describe mine; they seem more clinical. Maybe these interests are what a nutrition science graduate program might focus on? I don't know a lot about nutrition programs, but maybe that's something you could look into in addition to clinical health. Btw, I know CCNY graduate center has a program you could check out!