Erasmus University Rotterdam - Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Master in Health Psychology
Rotterdam, Netherlands
MSc
DURATION
1 year
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
01 Jun 2026*
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* application deadline for non-EEA students: 1 May.
Key Summary
Is this the programme you're looking for?
- Why are smoking behaviour and financial problems related?
- How can digital interventions support the mental health of young adults?
- Which behavioural change techniques are most effective in countering obesity in deprived neighbourhoods?
- How do we motivate people to stay healthy, live meaningful lives, and actively participate in society as they age?
If you're curious about the answers to these questions and more, this master's specialisation is the right choice! By the end of this programme, you will be equipped with scientific knowledge and practical experience in behaviour change methods and technologies, ready to make a real impact on health-related societal challenges.
The study programme in a nutshell
In this track, you will explore how psychological insights, evidence-based methods, and user-centered design approaches are applied to create innovative solutions that address societal needs, tackle psychological problems, promote healthy behaviours, and prevent unhealthy ones. You’ll become familiar with various models of behaviour change and health behaviours, gaining a strong theoretical understanding and practical skills in intervention design and implementation, practicing with real world cases. For example, you will be challenged to develop ideas on how to change the food environment into a healthy one or develop a concept of an app to enhance resilience and improve mental health.
This master will train students to become all-round professionals who are able to apply scientific knowledge on health promotion in practice. With increasing shortages in care professionals and the challenges posed by an aging population, experts in this field will be in high demand. Graduates will stand out due to their strong theoretical foundation and exceptional research and professional skills, including teamwork, project management, scientific integrity, transparency, and communication.
What does this study entail?
In this specialisation, you will explore how psychological insights, evidence-based methods, and participatory and user-centred design approaches are applied to create innovative solutions that address societal needs, tackle psychological problems, promote healthy behaviours, and prevent unhealthy ones. You'll become familiar with various models of behaviour change and health behaviours, gaining a strong theoretical understanding and practical skills in intervention design and implementation, practising with real-world cases. For example, you will be challenged to develop ideas on how to change the food environment into a healthy one or develop a concept of an app to enhance resilience and improve mental health.
This master's will train students to become all-round professionals who can apply scientific knowledge on health promotion in practice. With increasing shortages in care professionals and the challenges an ageing population poses, experts in this field will be in high demand. Graduates will stand out due to their strong theoretical foundation and exceptional research and professional skills, including teamwork, project management, scientific integrity, transparency, and communication.
Become an all-round professional
This master trains you to become an all-around professional who can apply scientific knowledge in practice. Graduates have an advantage because of their good theoretical basis and excellent research and practical skills.
How do you motivate people to stay healthy, live a meaningful life, and actively participate in society? How do you help individuals achieve their goals? How can we use modern technology to better serve and fulfill the needs of our communities? In the master track of Health Psychology, we try to answer these sorts of questions.
In this master track, you will study the latest trends in designing impactful behavior change interventions. You will gain knowledge about health psychology and behavior change theories and techniques. You will discover how to use design thinking approaches and how persuasive strategies can be used to increase engagement with a (digital) intervention. You will also gain practical skills for designing, implementing, and evaluating interventions, including how to collaborate effectively with multiple stakeholders (e.g., health specialists, intervention designers, software developers, policymakers, etc.). The research interests of this master track include behavior change theories, health promotion and prevention, community-based and participatory research, persuasive system design, and the applied use of new technologies and research methods, such as wearables and ecological momentary assessments.
Active education
The education in the master is organised on a small scale. In addition to regular lectures, you will work in small groups. An integral part of the programme is the ability to familiarise yourself with the skills of a professional health psychologist and behavior change specialist. These skills involve team work, project management, personal leadership, and research skills. In the second part of the program, you will be given the opportunity to practice these skills during a practical and a research internship, and independently carry out your research leading to your graduation thesis.
The study program in a nutshell
The study program of the Master Health Psychology incorporates both theory and practice. The master adopts an active learning approach combining elements of traditional problem-based learning with a project-oriented learning approach, working on cases deriving from real-life challenges in communities and society at large, to try to solve them.
As such, this master will train students to become all-round professionals who can apply scientific knowledge in practice. Graduates will have an advantage because of their good theoretical basis and excellent research and professional skills and competencies (e.g., teamwork, project management, scientific integrity and transparency, communication skills, project management, etc.).
Curriculum
The curriculum consists of three core courses and three practical courses. The first core course focuses on theories of behavior change and the process of understanding and analyzing targeted behavior. The second core course dives into the world of health and how to design, implement, and evaluate digital interventions. The third core course is uniform for all Psychology master tracks: a course in multivariate statistics.
In parallel to the core courses, you will also follow three practical courses focused on acquiring key professional and research skills in the field of behavior change. The Health Psychology Master will provide you with the relevant content expertise and the skills necessary to work effectively in the field.
All teaching activities are taught in English. The lectures, study manuals, examinations, and used literature are also in English.
Internship to apply your knowledge
In the second semester, from February onwards, you will complete a practical, professional internship and a research internship leading to your final thesis. Both can be carried out either in external organizations and companies working in the field of behavior change and/or e-health, or in the research areas of our faculty. The internships can also be combined into a longer one, where both practical experience and research work can be integrated into a larger project.
By completing these internships, you will have the opportunity to practice the skills and competencies acquired in the first semester and gather professional and research experience in the field. You will have the opportunity to experience the work of a health psychologist and behavior change specialist in real-life settings, creating the basis for entering the job market.
Our internship network includes public and private organizations offering exciting and relevant internship positions to our students across a variety of topics and domains, such as public health promotion (at the local or national level), sustainability, digital health and wellbeing, policy development, and implementation, etc. Examples of organizations include the municipality of Rotterdam, the GGD (local public health services), research organizations (consultancy firms, Trimbos Institute, national and international research consortia), e-health providers, and software and start-up companies working in digital behavior change. An internship abroad is also possible in an organization relevant to the contents of the master's program.
The educational program is subject to change. No rights can be derived from the information below.
Teaching method
The Health Psychology master employs a mix of educational methods, including traditional lectures, problem-based learning, and project assignments based on real-life scenarios, to be carried out independently or in groups. Our educational approach is student-centered: students play an active role in their learning process. In this model the accent is not on lecturing to accomplish information transfer (as is the case in traditional educational systems), but rather on the active participation of the students in small groups (constructivist learning). Most of the time, it is not the teacher who is explaining, but the students themselves, leading to deeper learning and learning by doing.
This program includes plenary lectures and workgroups where students work together to address real-life problems tapping into multidisciplinary subjects. These are open-ended problems with more than one solution, simulating a real-life professional situation. Students will have to search for information that they will discuss with their group and work out a concrete solution. The students use their knowledge and skills as a base to acquire new knowledge and refine their competencies.
On average, there are 12 contact hours per week. This time is distributed over lectures, workshops, and individual office hours with the course coordinators. Students spend a large part of their time on individual study and projects/assignments, which can be done individually or in groups. Most students spend approximately 40 hours per week on their studies.
Curriculum
Block 1
- Health Psychology & Behavior Change
- Professional Skills
Block 2
- Design of digital interventions
- Research methods in digital behavior change
Block 3
- Applied Multivariate Data Analysis
- Multivariate Data Analysis
Block 4
- Research proposal
- Internship
- Thesis
Is this the right program for you?
- This programme is unique as it combines state-of-the-art theoretical and methodological knowledge on health psychology and behavior change with practical expertise on how to design, implement and evaluate behaviour change interventions in complex, real-life contexts.
- Active education, where you work in groups to solve real-life behavior change challenges by designing interventions in a multidisciplinary context.
- Attention to the development of professional skills (e.g., personal leadership, team working, project management).
Opportunities after graduating
As a graduate of the Health Psychology master, you will be involved in designing, implementing, and evaluating innovative behavior change interventions. Therefore, you will have many career opportunities in the field.
You can work as a health psychologist, behavior change specialist, or police officer, in public health services, governmental institutions, healthcare, e-health providers, business, or education. A job as a digital intervention designer, UX researcher, behavioral scientist, or consultant at e-health providers or tech companies is also possible.
If you are interested in research, you can choose to apply for a PhD or start as a project coordinator or research scientist at academic and other independent research institutions (e.g., NGOs, Behavior Change Units).