Master of Science in Health Promotion

As the primary prevention of a number of chronic diseases (cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, obesity, ...) becomes ever more important, there is a concomitant and growing need for experts on health promotion. In the context of a prolonged (often lifelong) ambulant treatment, patients need advice and coaching (patient education) to adjust their lifestyles. What is more, the environmental effects on our health and the pressure of environmental factors on a population’s health behaviour must not be underestimated. Take for instance the increased focus on setting up smoke-free environments, or pursuing health policy in schools and companies, ... A systematic and methodical approach to the development, implementation and evaluation of health promotion programmes is more important than ever. The Master in Health Promotion offers a sound theoretical knowledge on how to set up and substantiate such programmes, as well as the methods to evaluate them. Health promotion is highly multidisciplinary: among others, it combines behavioural sciences, social sciences, biomedical sciences, communication studies. A Bachelor’s or Master’s diploma in any of those disciplines offers access to our Master’s programme. You will gain an in-depth knowledge of the basic sciences of the professional field, and broaden that knowledge with other sciences in order to integrate and apply them in a health promotion context.

The Master in Health Promotion has no specific prior Bachelor’s programme. Instead, it targets prospective students from various professional and academic Bachelor's programmes. We also welcome students who have already obtained another Master’s diploma.

The Master in Health Promotion focuses on the development and evaluation of health promotion programmes. This requires a close attention to the theoretical substantiation of such programmes and the academic-scientific approach to prevention.
Our graduates are professionals who have been trained to collaborate with other relevant parties on the development and dissemination of ethical and creative interventions. We focus heavily on instilling behaviour change in groups, organisations and the entire population and less on the individual behavioural change. You acquire an understanding of local, Flemish, federal and international policy, and how these different policy levels influence our health. You acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes to research health problems and factors related to health behaviour in a scientific-academic manner. You learn to evaluate interventions on their (cost) efficiency and to study their dissemination in the professional field.

You will acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to communicate effectively with different target groups, and in so doing you will fulfil your role of communicator. You will also learn to contribute to the public debate on preventive health care. In addition, you will learn to collaborate in multidisciplinary teams, and to contribute to policy on health promotion. The curriculum combines knowledge and methods from various disciplines: medicine, epidemiology, psychology, communication studies, economics, policy studies, and sociology.

You conclude the second term of the Master’s year with a thirty-day work placement, where you put your theoretical knowledge into practice and become acquainted with the professional field of health promotion. The Master's programme culminates in a Master’s dissertation.

International mobility in the context of the Master's dissertation and/or the work placement is possible. Our international research and education partners are: University of Olso (Norway), Syddansk Universitet (Odense, Danmark), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Universiteit Maastricht (The Netherlands), Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain), University of Porto (Portugal), Universidad de Cuenca (Ecuador) and Deakin University Melbourne (Australia).

Practicalities

Ours is a daytime study programme that does not focus on a study-work balance. Various course units contain individual as well as group assignments, either under supervision or not. Class attendance and participation in the work placement are mandatory. Various course units also bring you into contact with professional field representatives.

Prevention programmes, their design and their implementation, have always been the responsibility of different organisations and are hence highly multidisciplinary in nature. Very rarely does the government itself set up such activities or programmes; instead it sponsors organisations to do that in their stead.
A number of government initiatives in the past, e.g. the recognition of local health networks (in Dutch abbreviated to LOGOs), the Preventive Health Care Code, etc..., were meant to give an impetus to the development of the preventive sector. Aside from the government-sponsored organisations with their specific preventive mission, there are many other players in the field. The private sector, too, has seen an increase in prevention activities, e.g. food companies who decide to take an active part in the dissemination of information on the looming obesity epidemic.
Career opportunities in the hospital sector are on the rise as well, where patient education programmes for e.g. cancer patients, diabetics and cardiac patients are in the lift.

With its expertise on AIDS programmes, TB prevention, and reproductive medicine, the Master in Health Promotion also caters to those who have an interest in a professional career abroad, more specifically in developing countries. And last but not least, there are opportunities in higher education as well, in study programmes with a paramedical and social focus.

Consult our career guide for more examples (in Dutch).