Health & Social Care BA (Hons) (with Foundation Year)

The Foundation Year is a great opportunity if you have the ability and enthusiasm to study for a degree, but do not yet have the qualifications required to enter directly onto our degree programmes. A significant part of the Foundation Year focuses upon core skills such as academic writing at HE level, becoming an independent learner, structuring academic work, critical thinking, time management and note taking.

Successful completion of the Foundation Year will enable you to progress into the first year (Level C) of your chosen honours degree. Further details can be found here.

In Year One, you will spend half of your time studying Health and Wellbeing, exploring a broad range of issues, debates, and theoretical perspectives that underpin the subject.

Approaches to Health and Wellbeing

This module examines the different ways people understand health and wellbeing and how these perspectives shape responses to ill health. You will explore models including the biomedical approach, psychology of health, and sociological approaches. The module also focuses on social divisions and inequalities in health, considering how factors such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, poverty, socioeconomic status, and disability affect health and wellbeing at both individual and community levels.

Contemporary Issues in Health and Wellbeing

This module addresses key contemporary issues in health and wellbeing. You will apply your knowledge of approaches to health and social inequalities to examine complex issues such as obesity, mental health, and sexual health. The module explores the impact of social and environmental conditions on health outcomes and considers strategies to improve these conditions, moving beyond individual lifestyle factors to a broader societal perspective.

The other half of your time will be devoted to Social Care, providing a grounding in both the context and practice of social care.

Social Care in Context

This module explores the historical and social context of welfare and its influence on ideas about groups currently using social care services. You will examine social inequalities experienced throughout life and how these increase the likelihood of developing social care needs.

Social Care in Practice

This module investigates approaches to addressing social care needs at micro, meso, and macro levels. You will consider social and political changes necessary to reduce inequality and explore strategies to support individual needs. The module also encourages reflection on the values underpinning professional practice, including individuality, identity, rights, choice, privacy, independence, dignity, respect, and partnership, and examines how tensions can arise between personal and professional values.

In Year Two, you will spend half of your time studying Explorations in Health and Wellbeing, building on the knowledge gained in Year One and applying it to areas such as Public Health, health promotion, and research methods.

Public Health and Health Promotion: Theory and Practice

This module explores the history of Public Health and health promotion, examining how priorities and key drivers have evolved over time. You will investigate current public health challenges and how they are being addressed. Different theoretical approaches to health promotion are considered, along with their merits and limitations. You will also complete a community-based health promotion project, providing practical insight into health promotion practice.

Researching Health and Wellbeing

This module develops your understanding of both quantitative and qualitative research methods in Health and Wellbeing. You will study research ethics and learn how to critically review existing research literature. You will be supported in developing your own research questions, designing research projects, and analysing data, preparing you for the Year Three dissertation.

The other half of your time is devoted to Explorations in Social Care, providing a deeper understanding of policy, legislation, and professional practice.

The Policy and Legislative Context of Social Care

This module examines relevant policies and legislation designed to support and protect social care users. You will explore ethical issues that arise when working within statutory frameworks and consider strategies for resolving them.

Professional Practice in Social Care

This module helps you develop the characteristics and skills required for professional practice. It includes 50 hours of placement experience in a social care setting. Prior to placement, you will engage in activities to demonstrate readiness for practice, including effective communication, safe working practices, strengths-based approaches, and anti-oppressive methods.

Emancipatory Research

This module prepares you for undertaking research in Year Three while developing knowledge of how to work with communities in empowering ways. You will explore approaches and challenges in community-based research, including how power dynamics influence research and how collaborative and creative methods can reduce their impact.

In Year Three, you will spend half of your time studying Advanced Studies in Health and Wellbeing, building on knowledge and skills from previous years.

Contemporary Issues in Global Health and Wellbeing

This module explores key debates in global health and wellbeing. You will extend your understanding of health inequalities beyond individual societies to inequalities between countries. Topics include infectious and non-infectious diseases, global pandemics, the growing global burden of chronic disease, and global mental health. You will develop an in-depth understanding of determinants of health and social divisions that transcend national boundaries.

Health and Wellbeing Across the Life-Course

This module uses the life-course framework to understand Health and Wellbeing outcomes. You will examine how health-damaging exposures and health-enhancing opportunities are socially patterned and consider key Health and Wellbeing challenges at each stage of life, including prenatal health, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, midlife, and old age.

The other half of your time is devoted to Advanced Studies in Social Care, covering ethics, leadership, and contemporary issues.

Ethics in Health and Wellbeing

This module explores the moral and ethical implications of health interventions. You will study theoretical frameworks for analysing ethical issues and apply them to case studies, considering tensions between individual rights and the common good. Topics include physical and cognitive enhancement, and ethical issues surrounding living and dying.

Leadership and Management in Health and Social Care

This module examines leadership and management theories relevant to health and social care services. Students reflect on the role of everyone in shaping services and develop self-leadership qualities.

Contemporary Issues in Children's Social Care

This module explores the contemporary context of children’s lives, including social and economic influences and modern family structures. You will study approaches to working with children and young people in a variety of contexts and examine strategies for supporting families in the community.

Contemporary Issues in Adult Social Care

This module critically examines key challenges in adult social care, considering the impact of austerity and the growing number of people requiring social care services.