During your Master’s in Psychology, you will collect a total of 60 EC within one year. The curriculum consists of four compulsory courses for the specialisation in Health Psychology & Technology, one elective course, a master’s thesis, and an internship.
European Credit Transfer System
Student workload at Dutch universities is expressed in EC, also named ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System), which is widely used throughout the European Union. In the Netherlands, each credit represents 28 hours of work.
Structure
Specialisation courses
Compulsory for the specialisation in HPT. | 20 EC | |
Elective course
You can choose one of the following three elective courses. | 5 EC | |
Master’s thesis | 25 EC | You will finish your Master’s in Psychology with your master’s thesis. The choice of your graduation subject is largely up to you. |
Internship | 10 EC | An internal or external internship of 10 EC is part of your study programme. |
Total EC first year | 60 EC | |
Professional skills
A unique part of the specialisation in HPT is the so-called ‘Professional Skills for Health Psychologists’ learning line. All courses, as well as the master’s thesis and the (optional) internship, are strongly linked to your future, professional career. The professional skills learning line is interwoven throughout the whole curriculum to make sure you are well-prepared for your career. You will, for example, exercise negotiation and discussion skills, learn to work in multidisciplinary teams, and follow workshops in order to reflect on who you want to be as a young professional. Completing the whole learning line will earn you a professional skills certificate, along with your diploma after graduation!
Within your Master’s you will go on an internship. This is a great way to familiarise yourself with the work field and practise professional skills, as well as an excellent opportunity to increase your network!
Within the specialisation in Health Psychology & Technology, there are many interesting options open to you. You might for example focus on the design of an intervention to counter insomnia or write and advisory report about the functionalities of robots within healthcare.
The types of organisations you can complete your internship in is highly diverse, from hospitals and other healthcare institutions (e.g. Medisch Spectrum Twente, Roessingh centre for revalidation) to national or regional health organisations (e.g. the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM in Dutch), patient federations, Voedingscentrum, GGD) to companies focusing on e-health interventions (e.g. Karify, Nedap or Philips).
You will complete your Master’s in Psychology by writing your master’s thesis. The choice of your thesis topic is largely up to you. You could come up with your own proposal, or you could connect with ongoing research in areas such as self-care and prevention, public health, eHealth, patient support, etc. You could complete (part of) your graduation project at an external organisation as well. This is a great way for you to combine your academic skills with hands-on experience!
In your master’s thesis, you could focus on subjects such as:
- What are predictors of the willingness of young adults to get vaccinated against Covid-19?
- How can a smartphone intervention based on ‘Compassionate Mind Training’ increase the well-being of recently diagnosed cancer patients?
- Can Cognitive Bias Modification Training reduce problematic drinking?
