Mental Health in Children and Young People: Psychological Approaches MSc (Online Learning)

The MSc Mental Health in Children and Young People: Psychological Approaches (Online Learning) offers a unique perspective: that children and young people’s mental health and well-being are influenced by developmental processes at multiple levels, from individual to socio-cultural and that approaches to working with mental health and well-being need to be informed by this dynamic and interactional system.

By drawing on the knowledge and clinical experience of a world-class department of clinical and health psychology, the programme aims to equip students with the knowledge necessary for understanding children and young people’s mental health and well-being from this unique perspective. The programme will also draw upon many other theoretical areas, including early intervention, health promotion, public health, health and social inequalities, critical psychology, developmental psychopathology and resilience.

The programme is part-time, fully online, and has been designed with professionals in mind; the online delivery format and part-time study options allow for professionals from a range of disciplinary backgrounds to develop knowledge and practice whilst continuing to meet individual life and work demands.

The core elements of the programme include both conceptual and applied courses. At the conceptual level, the programme will review different theories of children and young people’s mental health involved in the complex structure of typical and atypical development. At the applied level, it will include the application of psychological knowledge to difficulties experienced by children and young people and the critical appraisal of psychological knowledge and practice.

Distinctive features of the programme, include:

• the critical integration of clinical and professional practice with current theoretical and empirical developments in the evidence base for, and delivery of, mental health programmes for children and young people
• flexibility of delivery
• opportunities for knowledge exchange between a range of graduates and practitioners from multi-professional backgrounds
• many opportunities for the synthesis of theory, evidence and practice

Graduates of the programme can expect to develop key skills and abilities, which are transferable to a number of professional domains, including:

• knowledge and understanding of the developmental and well-being literature
• research and enquiry skills
• personal and intellectual autonomy skills
• technical and practical skills
• communication skills

Online learning

All of the teachings on the MSc are delivered entirely online, allowing for flexible and responsive approaches to learning, assessment and support of our students and reaching a wide range of graduates and professionals from all over the world.

The online teaching methods include:

• video lectures
• online tutorials
• wikis
• discussion boards
• online conferences
• films and videos
• independent study and research

The University's full range of online learning resources will be available to students; for example:

• Blackboard Collaborate web conferencing software
• e-books and online academic journals
• Searcher (a unified platform to access all bibliographic databases available at the University).

As well as our online courses, students are welcome to enrol on our campus-based courses (up to 60 credits), if it is possible for them to attend the University for teaching, thus increasing flexibility and choice. Please note that students enrolled on this programme would not be eligible to apply for a Tier 4 visa.

The University of Edinburgh is currently ranked 15th in the World in the QS World University Rankings 2023.

• Teaching

Programme structure

This programme offers a flexible postgraduate degree designed for recent graduates and professionals who are interested in studying at an advanced level.

The programme is designed to be completed part-time. The minimum period course can be completed in two years, with a maximum completion time of six years.

There are a number of qualification routes available; students enrol on the MSc programme pathway and can exit at any of the following qualification junctures:

• Postgraduate Certificate
• Postgraduate Diploma
• MSc

Courses offered as part of the programme include:

• Social Inequality and Child and Adolescent Mental Health
• Research Methods in Applied Psychology (OL)
• Applied Developmental Psychopathology (OL)
• Child Migration & Mental Health
• Typical & Atypical Child Development
• Trauma and Resilience in a Developmental Context (Not running in the 2022-23 academic session)

The dissertation project takes the form of a systematic review or meta-analysis relating to an aspect of psychological theory, or a psychological model, with relevance to clinical practice in the field of child and adolescent mental health and well-being.