MSc in Workplace Health and Wellbeing (University of Nottingham)
The MSc in Workplace Health and Wellbeing seeks to empower occupational health and safety practitioners of all specialities with the knowledge and skills to maximise employee health and wellbeing in the contemporary world of work.
The two-year course is part-time and designed with the flexibility required to fit study around work and domestic commitments. Five modules are delivered via eLearning and supported by video conferences. These modules can be studies from anywhere in the world via an internet-enabled computer, at any time and at a pace that suits you. The remaining three modules are based on three-day workshops (September year 1, February year 1, February year 2). All study materials are provided online and each module is assessed by a piece of coursework that students have four months to prepare – there are no exams! Each of the eight pieces of assessed work is designed to permit students to focus on a topic that is of direct relevance to their professional activities and interests.
Modules include:
The Management of Workplace Health
This module considers new and emerging risks and opportunities as they relate to workplace health and wellbeing. It is delivered as a three-day workshop at the beginning of the course and involves a prestigious line-up of nationally-recognised figures.
Work-Related Stress
This module addresses the nature of contemporary psychological, social and organisational factors as they relate to individual and organisational health. It is suggested that many of the effects of these contemporary challenges are mediated by the experience of stress.
Health Legislation, Policy, and Guidance
This module has its focus on the legislative, policy, and guidance frameworks that surround a selection of contemporary workplace health and wellbeing issues. The focus throughout is on the interplay between law, science, and organisational practice on workplace health management.
Contemporary Issues in Workplace Health
This module is delivered as a three-day workshop and explores the developing range of health-related issues for today’s workforce, and offers strategies for their management. Topics considered include the ageing workforce, work-life balance, health crises and business continuity, migrant workers, diversity issues in health, design of the physical work environment, and work-related driving, among others.
Organisational Research and Evaluation Methods
This module is about approaches to the design of workplace health studies, the collection of data, and the evaluation of that data with a view towards the construction of an evidence-based argument for the introduction of policies, procedures, and interventions that are designed to generate occupational health benefits. No prior knowledge of research methods or statistics is required.
Workplace Health Promotion
This module considers: (a) key psychological theories of behaviour change that have informed the design of workplace health promotion activities and (b) the effectiveness of workplace health promotion interventions that have their focus on exercise, diet, smoking cessation, psychological health, and others.
Absence, Rehabilitation, and Retention
This module is delivered as a three-day workshop and concerns sickness absence, its manifestations, monitoring, and management, as well as the emerging concept of presenteeism.
Applied Research Project
This final module involves a research project that (a) uses the skills and knowledge acquired during the course, (b) demonstrates capability for independent research, and (c) demonstrates reflection on project management skills. The goal is to conduct a piece of organisational research that has real-world implications of which the scientific and practitioner communities ought to be made aware. Each year, following graduation, the project supervisors work with the authors of the best of that year’s projects to produce a journal paper for publication. Recent examples include:
• Houdmont, J., Zhou, J., & Hassard, J. (2011). Overtime and psychological wellbeing among Chinese office workers. Occupational Medicine, 61, 270-273.
• Madgwick, P., Houdmont, J., & Randall, R. (2011). Sun safety measures among construction workers in Britain. Occupational Medicine, 61, 430-433.
Further information
If you are interested in pursuing this course with a view to enhancing the health, wellbeing, and performance of your organisation, please see the course website at www.nottingham.ac.uk/iwho/workplacehealth or contact the course director, Dr Jonathan Houdmont, T: 07977 142860, E: jonathan.houdmont@nottingham.ac.uk.
