Health & Wellbeing
 Health Wellbeing (Major).jpg)
UCAS Code: Combined Honours only – see combinations tab|Duration: 3 years|Full Time|Hope Park
UCAS Campus Code: L46
International students can apply|Study Abroad opportunities
About the course
Recent years have seen widespread recognition of the need to move beyond medicine with a greater emphasis on the promotion of health and wellbeing. New government initiatives and policies are giving this greater priority than ever before. Health and Wellbeing is a vibrant, multidisciplinary degree in which you will explore a range of issues and debates relevant to health and wellbeing in contemporary society.
The degree draws upon a range of disciplines, including sociology social policy and psychology to understand the key challenges to health and wellbeing in the 21st century. Throughout your studies, you will be considering key questions such as what factors influence health and wellbeing? How do social experiences impact upon health and wellbeing? Why do different social groups experience health and wellbeing differently? Alongside this, you develop the practical skills necessary for work in the field, through work on case studies and opportunities and applied research projects within the local community.
The degree provides you with the opportunity to develop practical skills, knowledge and insight into a range of issues relating to health and wellbeing in contemporary society. With its strong emphasis on social justice and welfare, you will be enabled to develop as critical social scientists who, as a graduate, will be able to use your skills and knowledge to the benefit of your local community and society more broadly.
Hear from one of our Health & Wellbeing students
Course structure
Teaching on this degree is structured into lectures, where all students are taught together, seminars of smaller groups of around 20-25 students, and tutorials which typically have no more than 15 students. You will also have the opportunity to have a one-to-one meeting with your tutor each week.
For the Health & Wellbeing part of your Combined Honours degree, there are approximately 6 teaching hours each week, which reduces to approximately 5 hours in your second and third years. On top of teaching hours, you are also expected to spend a number of hours studying independently each week, as well as group study to prepare for any group assessments you may have.
Assessment and feedback
Throughout your three years of study, you will have a variety of assessments including essays, portfolios and written exams. You will also undertake a community based health promotion project, and in your final year you will complete a dissertation or research project.
You will be given written feedback on your assessments, and you will have the opportunity to discuss this with your tutor in more detail.
Year One
Introduction to Health and Wellbeing
Your first year introduces you to a broad range of issues, debates and theoretical perspectives that underpin Health and Wellbeing. You will study:
Approaches to Health and Wellbeing
You will consider the merits and limitations of a range of approaches to health and wellbeing including the biomedical model, the psychology of health and wellbeing and sociological approaches to health and wellbeing.
Equality and Diversity in Health and Wellbeing
You will then move on to focus more specifically on social divisions and inequalities in health and wellbeing. You will learn how factors such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, poverty, socioeconomic status and disability impact upon Health and Wellbeing at the individual and community level.
Key issues and debates in Health and Wellbeing
You will learn about some of the contemporary issues at the forefront of the subject. You will use your knowledge of different approaches to Health and Wellbeing and inequalities in health to consider the complexity of issues such as obesity, mental health and sexual health. You will explore the role of inequalities in ‘lifestyle issues’ moving beyond a focus on the individual to consider the many determinants of a range of non-communicable diseases.
Year Two
Explorations in Health and Wellbeing
Your second year will build on what you have learned in first year applying your knowledge to ideas around the Public Health, the promotion of Health and Wellbeing and researching Health and Wellbeing.
Public Health and Health Promotion: Theory and Practice
You will consider the history of Public Health and health promotion and explore how key drivers and priorities have changed over time. You will consider some of the key Public Health challenges we are currently facing and how these are being addressed. You will engage with a range of different theoretical approaches to health promotion, considering the merits and limitations of different approaches. You will complete a community-based health promotion project which will give you an insight into the reality of health promotion practice.
Researching Health and Wellbeing
You will develop your knowledge and understanding of quantitative and qualitative approaches to undertaking Health and Wellbeing research. You will learn about research ethics as well as the process of critically reviewing previous research literature on a given topic. You will be supported to developing your own research questions, design research projects, and analyse research data. This will prepare you for the final year of study when you will undertake a dissertation.
Year Three
Advanced Studies in Health and Wellbeing
You will bring together your previous learning and explore in depth 3 key themes in Health and Wellbeing. You will also have the opportunity to study two Advanced Research Courses.
Contemporary Issues in Global Health and Wellbeing
You will consider a range of key debates at a global level. You will extend your knowledge and understanding of health inequalities moving beyond the consideration of inequalities within societies to inequalities between societies and countries. You will draw upon your existing knowledge of determinants and will develop an in-depth understanding of determinants and social divisions that transcend national boundaries. You will consider a range of contemporary issues in global health and wellbeing such as: infectious and non-infectious diseases; global pandemics; the growing global burden of chronic disease; global mental health.
Health and Wellbeing across the Life-course
You will consider the importance of the life-course as a framework for understanding Health and Wellbeing. You will explore how socially patterned health damaging exposures and health enhancing opportunities shape health and wellbeing outcomes. You will consider some of the key Health and Wellbeing issues and challenges at each stage of the life-course including prenatal health and Health and Wellbeing in: childhood; adolescence; young adulthood; midlife and old age.
Ethics in Health and Wellbeing
You will explore the moral and ethical implications of health interventions. Students will examine theoretical frameworks through which ethical issues can be considered and then use these to analyse specific health-related case studies. In particular, students will consider the issues that arise from conceptualising ‘individual rights’ versus the ‘common good’. To do this, they will study issues that arise from physical and cognitive enhancement, ideas around living and dying.
Advanced Research Courses
Advances research courses are offered on a range of topics each year within the School of Social Sciences. Each research course is led by an individual member of staff and is based upon their area of research interest and expertise. You will select two of these to study on topics of interest to you. Examples of topics previously offered include: learning disability; poverty and health; health inequalities; hate crime; LGBTQ+ health; migration; mental health; alcohol drinking practices; chronic illness.
Entry requirements
| A-Levels | BCC |
|---|---|
| UCAS Tariff Points | 104 UCAS Tariff points must come from a minimum of two A Levels (or equivalent). Additional points can be made up from a range of alternative qualifications |
| BTEC | DMM |
| Access to HE | 104 Tariff Points |
| IB | 24 |
| Irish Leaving Certificate | 104 Tariff Points from Higher Level qualifications only |
| Welsh Baccalaureate | This qualification can only be accepted in conjunction with other relevant qualifications |
| T-Levels | Merit |
| Subject Requirements | No specific subject requirements |
International entry requirements
| Specific Country Requirements | Select your country |
|---|---|
| IELTS | 6.0 overall (with reading and writing at 6.0) and no individual score lower than 5.5. We also accept a wide range of International Qualifications. For more information, please visit our English Language Requirements page. |
Careers
The health and social care sector is undergoing rapid and radical change. As part of this we are seeing an increasing number of employers in the sector and there is much demand for well trained and multi-skilled graduates. Health and Wellbeing graduates find employment in a wide range of occupations across the private, public and voluntary sectors. The holistic nature of the degree will enable you to gain employment in a number of areas such as health promotion, housing, community based projects, occupational health, services for the older population, and services for young people.
Many graduates also go on to complete a postgraduate degree.
Enhancement opportunities
SALA
The Service and Leadership Award (SALA) is offered as an extra-curricular programme involving service-based experiences, development of leadership potential and equipping you for a career in a rapidly changing world. It enhances your degree, it is something which is complimentary but different and which has a distinct ‘value-added’ component. Find out more on our Service and Leadership Award page.
Study Abroad
As part of your degree, you can choose to spend either a semester or a full year of study at one of our partner universities as part of our Study Abroad programme. Find out more on our Study Abroad page.
Tuition fees
The tuition fees for the 2025/26 academic year are £9,535* for full-time undergraduate courses.
If you are a student from the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, your tuition fees will also be £9,535*.
The University reserves the right to increase Home and EU Undergraduate and PGCE tuition fees in line with any inflationary or other increase authorised by the Secretary of State for future years of study.
*subject to Council approval.
Additional costs
On top of your tuition fees, you also need to purchase core texts for the degree, which we estimate to cost around £100 each year.
You will also need to consider the cost of your accommodation each year whilst you study at university. Visit our accommodation pages for further details about our Halls of Residence.
Scholarships
We have a range of scholarships to help with the cost of your studies. Visit our scholarships page to find out more.
International tuition fees
The International Tuition fees for 2025/26 are £14,500.
Visit our International fees page for more information.
Course combinations
This course is only available as a Combined Honours degree with the following subjects: