Health Psychology Certificate
Earn Your Health Psychology Graduate Certificate Online
Psychological and behavioral factors can significantly influence a person’s physical health and well-being. The specialization of health psychology examines how social factors, behavior, psychology and biology come together to shape health and illness.
You can study this health services field with the online certificate in health psychology at Grand Canyon University (GCU). The health psychology certificate may serve as a supplemental career credential for working professionals who have a background in counseling, psychology, nursing or social work. This graduate certificate is not a licensure program and does not prepare students to become a licensed professional.
Explore the intersection of physical, mental and behavioral health. Benefit from the insightful lectures of knowledgeable instructors, and from the diverse perspectives of your peers. Earn your health psychology graduate certificate online or through evening classes at GCU’s campus. The online certificate in health psychology is available via our dynamic online learning platform. The program requires a total of 16 credits for completion.
What You Will Learn in the Health Psychology Certificate Program
Offered by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the health psychology graduate certificate program examines the psychological, social and behavioral factors that affect individual and community health. You can develop an understanding of how to promote the behaviors that lead to positive health outcomes. Effective coaching practices for individuals are studied, along with the promotion of community wide change.
Career Opportunities with a Graduate Health Psychology Certificate
Health psychologists can work in a range of settings. Clinical health psychologists often work one-on-one with patients, helping them adopt healthy behaviors and reduce their risk of illnesses. Some health psychologists focus their careers on research, such as exploring causes of health problems and how to help patients who are struggling with illnesses or pain. Some health psychologists may do public policy work, either in agency settings or governmental organizations. They may advise on healthcare reform or address inequalities in healthcare.
This health psychology graduate certificate may serve as a supplement for currently active psychology, counseling or nursing professionals. The online certificate in health psychology may enhance career opportunities and enable graduates to focus their work in their area of interest. It may also prepare learners to pursue an advanced degree.
Health Psychology Certificate FAQs
If you are interested in advancing your skills with a health psychology certificate, read further for our answers to these frequently asked questions.
To become a health psychologist you will need to earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree in psychology. Some states require licensure to practice as a health psychologist so it’s important to know your state’s requirements ahead of time. If you are an active psychology or nursing professional who wants to study a specific area of interest, then consider earning a graduate online certificate in health psychology. This is a flexible and convenient way to build new skills and add an education credential to your name.
While the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) doesn’t report on health psychologists specifically, the BLS does report that job openings for psychologists, in general, are expected to grow 6% from 2021 to 2031. This equals to about 14,100 projected openings each year over the decade.1
Health psychology is also called medical psychology or behavioral medicine. Health psychology courses examine how biological, social and psychological factors affect health and well-being. Health psychologists, or medical psychologists, aim to promote overall health and prevent illness.
Earning a health psychology graduate certificate allows you to build upon your professional skills which can help you position yourself for further career prospects. It can also help if you are looking to pursue an advanced degree or specialize in an area of health psychology.
1 COVID-19 has adversely affected the global economy and data from 2020 and 2021 may be atypical compared to prior years. The pandemic may impact the predicted future workforce outcomes indicated by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics as well. Accordingly, data shown is effective May 2021, which can be found here: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Psychologists, retrieved on Feb. 6, 2023.
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Core Courses
Course Description
This course explores the promotion of health behaviors at the individual and community level. A special focus is on prevention programs and utilization of media to impact health behaviors. Factors contributing to successful prevention programs will be analyzed and program evaluation techniques will be demonstrated. Successful survey design techniques will be introduced and the current trends in health psychology will be explored.
Course Description
This course examines a variety of factors related to wellness and includes a focus on substance use and abuse, nutrition, weight control, diet, exercise and safety. An exploration of lifestyles factors related to promoting health and wellness across the lifespan is assessed as well as effective coaching for health and wellness.
Course Description
This course examines the implementation of community-wide change through intervention, prevention, advocacy, outreach, and program evaluation, which moves beyond the individual focus. Students explore foundational competencies for addressing community problems and implementing community psychology practice. A focus is placed on current research related to topics relevant to community psychology.
Course Description
This course examines the future of Health Psychology with an emphasis on understanding current public policy and implementing changes in this sector. Careers related to Health Psychology and issues and controversies that impact the field are investigated.
- GCU cannot and will not promise job placement, a job, graduate school placement, transfer of GCU program credits to another institution, promotion, salary, or salary increase. Please see the Career Services Policy in the University Policy Handbook.
- Please note that this list may contain programs and courses not presently offered, as availability may vary depending on class size, enrollment and other contributing factors. If you are interested in a program or course listed herein please first contact your University Counselor for the most current information regarding availability.
- Please refer to the Academic Catalog for more information. Programs or courses subject to change
Pursue a next-generation education with an online degree from Grand Canyon University. Earn your degree with convenience and flexibility with online courses that let you study anytime, anywhere.