MSocSc Health, Wellbeing and Society
| Duration: 1 Year/ 2 Years |
|
| Schedule: Full Time & Part Time | |
| Starting: September 2012 | |
| Contact Name: Linda Vines |
|
| Contact Number: +353 (0)1 716 8674 | |
| Fees: Fee Information |
Who is the Masters in Health, Wellbeing and Society for?
The Programme was developed for people with an interest, and or professional focus, in the area of Health and Illness. It is designed to facilitate you in terms of career development or to progress further in academic research.
Health practitioners, researchers and those working in a variety of social policy, health and care organisations (such as the HSE) have taken this course although the majority of entrants are recent graduates in Sociology, Social Science or related disciplines (psychology, philosophy, human geography, history, politics, and economics). More recently, as definitions of health have broadened to include concepts such as individual and global wellbeing entrants with a different spectrum of interests have entered the programme.
As health, illness and wellbeing are amongst the most popular topics studied at postgraduate level these new interests are reflected in PhD projects for example the origins and development of adoption, suicidal behaviour, perceptions of the contemporary body and attitudes to food and eating.
What will I learn?
You will develop an understanding of the theoretical and empirical foundations of health and Illness and wellbeing in society. In addition, you will acquire conceptual and research skills needed to work in the area of health or to undertake further postgraduate study.A master’s degree in sociology from UCD will provide a number of important skills that are transferable across a wide range of social fields such as data collection, critical analysis and how to use IT systems to retrieve and evaluate knowledge and information, and how to give oral presentations using modern technology. These are essential skills for future professional or academic development.
How will I benefit?
The Programme is designed to facilitate you in terms of career development or to progress further in future academic research.The MSocSc in Health, Wellbeing and Society has developed a reputation as a leading programme in the field of health. Respected by practioners and academics alike the progamme is seen as a benchmark for providing social analysis and research tools and skills. The Programme would be of enormous benefit for career development in a number of health related areas including nursing and health research. It is an excellent entre to a PhD in the general area of health and illness research.
You will develop a range of conceptual, analytical and methodological skills that will enable you to identify, describe and analyse a wide range of social events and behaviours. You will master the art of applying sociological perspectives and arguments to a number of empirical investigations, and to write in a lucid, sophisticated manner.
What is the Programme about?
The MSocSc programme will help you to develop an in-depth and critical understanding of health and wellbeing issues and policy as well as instruction in social analysis and research methods.
The programme offers training in both theory and research methods and will help you develop a number of important career-related skills. The ability to critically assess issues, practices and methodologies is a key competency in today’s health service and these skills form the core of this programme. Issues are examined at both national and global level to increase the students comparative ability as well as in the context of competing frameworks for understanding health and illness. In this way the student is encouraged to think broadly and creatively.
The ability to analyse health issues, think creatively and look past common and everyday understandings of health is highly sought after by employers in the health and social policy sectors. Health is a much more diverse, and global, concept than heretofore and this broad scope is addressed in the course modules. Patterns of health and disease are examined and a key feature is understanding why these trends and health- related behaviours occur. At the conclusion of the programme students are guided through the development, implementation and writing up of a minor thesis which brings together the analytical and research skills they have learned.