Entry requirements

The student should be admitted to Master's programme in social sciences. Also required is 90 credits in psychology or in some other social science subject.

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, the student should be able to:

- Demonstrate understanding of global burden of disease and how psychological factors contribute.

- Describe current cognitive behavioral theories and philosophy within clinical psychology/health psychology.

- Summarize evidence for outcomes from treatments with cognitive behavioral therapies.

- Discuss the basis for the role of clinical psychology in health broadly.

- Assess strengths and weaknesses in current research methods in clinical psychology.

- Propose approaches that could improve future treatments in clinical and health psychology.

Content

This course will address the application of behavioral science knowledge and methods to problems in human health, including mental and physical health. The course will focus on theories and philosophy within the broadly cognitive behavioral approaches, including the latest generation of these. The epidemiology of the most burdensome global health conditions will be reviewed briefly and effectiveness of current psychological methods for addressing some of the impacts of these will be summarized. There will be a focus on current treatment models and research method in treatment development and testing, including both group-based, or nomothetic, and idiographic methods, and relative strengths and weaknesses of these approaches will be assessed. The potential for contextual behavioral science and proposed process-based methods will also be examined.

Instruction

Teaching is given in the form of lectures and seminars. Supervision is given in connection with short essays and thesis work. The teaching may be given in English.

Assessment

The students' knowledge is assessed via written examinations, individual short essays and thesis work in groups. Further, the student's achievements at participation in seminars are assessed. For examination, the grades used are passed with distinction, passed, and failed.

Other directives

Other requirements, prerequisites and conditions for participation in and the fulfilment of the course, e.g. compulsory attendance, design of own work, etc., are evident from information given at the course introduction. A student who does not meet the mandatory requirements for a passing grade is usually given the opportunity to complete remaining parts the following term and/or is given complementary assignments by the course director.