Applied and Clinical Psychology BSc (Hons)

Psychology is a very broad topic encompassing many sub-disciplines but, while this course has a focus on clinical and applied areas, all BPS-accredited degrees share a common core syllabus, ensuring that graduates have this common basis, despite the wide range of specialisms that you may go on to pursue. Specialist areas include Forensic, Health, Neuro, Clinical, Educational Academia, Research and Teaching and Counselling. You can find out more on the  BPS website: https://careers.bps.org.uk/

Our personal tutor approach ensures that you have regular contact with a tutor who understands you and will provide academic guidance to build your confidence as you progress. You’ll be led through the course with regular messages to guide your study and give you feedback and encouragement on your progress. You’ll use interactive learning materials that will help you to grasp the key concepts and give instant feedback. Written feedback on your coursework will help you to develop the academic and professional skills that you will need.

In designing our distance learning course, we’ve been careful to enable students to benefit from our emphasis on practical and applied work. You will learn how to conduct research, setting up experiments and questionnaires online, collecting data, analysing it, and writing reports to a professional standard. Through our research participation system you will have the opportunity to act as both a participant in a diverse range of studies, and researcher in your own right.

All BPS-accredited degrees culminate in a final empirical research project and this gives you the opportunity to investigate a question that interests you, with the help of an expert supervisor. This project will give you valuable, cv-enhancing skills such as making an application to a human research ethics panel, designing and implementing empirical research, and analysing and reporting data.

Modules

Becoming a Researcher

All psychologists share basic skills in understanding, designing, reporting and communicating research and this module will provide a grounding in these skills. As a science, Psychology is driven by the empirical analysis of human behaviour. In this module you’ll start with a question of interest, formulate hypotheses to test, design, and implement a study to collect data to be analysed. You will then go on to develop an understanding of how to apply statistical analyses to data in order to draw valid and reliable inferences as to how and why people think and behave in a certain way.

The Psychology of Everyday Life

This module provides specialists and non-specialists in psychology with a psychological perspective on various issues of everyday life. We look at topical issues in order to demonstrate how psychology can provide insight into people's behaviour, and how we benefit from a scientific psychological approach.

Clinical and Health Psychology

An introduction to clinical and health psychology and the application of psychological knowledge to an understanding of health and illness, and the interventions which can be used to improve health or relieve the symptoms of illness. You will also examine how we define and classify mental ill-health, and the different models that psychologists have used to understand the causes of mental ill-health. You’ll study specific health problems, both physical and mental, including eating disorders, stress, trauma, and sexual disorders, reviewing the different methods that can be used by clinical and health psychologists to enhance people's physical and mental health, both individual, family and population based. This module will be of real interest to those who would like to pursue a career in clinical or health psychology, or related areas, such as forensic psychology.

Self and Society

Here you will be introduced to social psychology, developmental psychology and individual differences. You’ll explore topics in social cognition, attribution and group processes, the foundations that make up social psychology and also how language and cognitive and emotional development affect developmental psychology. You will discover how to apply your learning to the real world, allowing you to observe how social groups form and function, as well as applying psychological theories to real issues and global challenges.

Mind and Behaviour

Here you will gain an overview of the theoretical, philosophical and historical foundations that underpin the discipline of psychology, You will then learn and analyse the current model used to understand mind and behaviour, specifically cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience.

Research in Action: Statistical Thinking

This module develops your statistical thinking, enabling you to approach research questions with skill and understanding. You’ll develop a critical understanding of the principles of data collection and analysis in Psychology, and consider the theoretical bases, merits and limitations of various quantitative methods. You will focus on theoretical and conceptual ideas underpinning statistics and research design with an emphasis here on understanding the logic behind the techniques covered, and behind choices that researchers make. You will gain experience with practical and computer-based examples before applying your skills by conducting a formal piece of research.

Social Psychology, Development and Difference

Building on your knowledge from "Self and Society" you will explore the deeper content of this subject, looking at how certain behaviours are shaped through our individual development and through different social contexts. This will challenge you to think across these different subject areas and will present a coherent view of a person, where our social and developmental changes are related to the actual, imagined or implied presence of others. You will learn by focusing on an issue (e.g. attraction, relationships) and consider each topic issue from an individual, social and developmental view.

Brain, Body and Mind

Brain, Body and Mind draws heavily on psychology, neuroscience, individual differences and evolutionary approaches to provide a critical understanding of mind and behaviour. You’ll explore a range of topics that are critical to understanding the biological and evolutionary theory which supports human and animal behaviour before examining cognitive and individual difference models of the mind and behaviour.

Research in Action: Qualitative Methods and Psychology in Practice

This module will include the teaching of qualitative methods in psychology. It will examine the design, collection and analysis of qualitative data. The module will also outline key aspects of a qualitative approach such as reflexivity and epistemology. There will be specific sessions that are dedicated to particular approaches in qualitative methods including: thematic analysis, grounded theory and discourse analysis. Students will analyse qualitative data as part this module and utilise this data to formulate research questions. As part of this, students will develop an awareness of the ethical and practical implications of conducting professional research. This will include the application of professional codes of conduct and ethics in research and practice.

Ruskin Module

Ruskin Modules are designed to prepare our students for a complex, challenging and changing future. These interdisciplinary modules provide the opportunity to further broaden your perspectives, develop your intellectual flexibility and creativity. You will work with others from different disciplines to enable you to reflect critically on the limitations of a single discipline to solve wider societal concerns. You will be supported to create meaningful connections across disciplines to apply new knowledge to tackle complex problems and key challenges. Ruskin Modules are designed to grow your confidence, seek and maximise opportunities to realise your potential to give you a distinctive edge and enhance your success in the workplace.

Lifespan Development

This module aims to give students an overview of human development across the lifespan. The emphasis in this module is on development across the lifespan, including how childhood experiences affect later development. Different approaches to human development will be discussed and compared, and students will be encouraged to apply theories of development to particular case studies. Some of the different approaches to human development to be studied may include: attachment theory, Erikson’s psychosocial theory, theories of aging, and biopsychosocial approaches.

Diagnosis and Formulation in Mental Health

Here you’ll be introduced to diagnosis and formulation in mental health as well as a variety of mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, psychosis, post-traumatic stress disorder and personality disorders. You’ll focus on developing your knowledge of the diagnostic criteria for mental health problems, looking at the diagnostic classification systems, and also establishing an understanding of the current view of mental health problems through formulation.

Atypical Development

We will introduce a variety of developmental disorders including Downs' Syndrome, Williams' Syndrome, dyslexia and autism, and analyse the biological, cognitive and social profiles of each. You will gain an insight in to the main symptoms of each clinical condition and the prognosis for people with these disorders. We will do this by discussing published literature and studying symptoms of children and adults with these disorders in video demonstrations. We will also cover the effects of early brain injury, and problems in the assessment and diagnosis of developmental disorders. You will also consider ethical issues and working with clinical populations. This module will be particularly useful for you if you are considering a career related to development, educational or clinical psychology or a career working with typically developing children or children with special needs.

Psychological Therapies

This module provides an introduction to some of the main methods of psychological interventions used by clinical, counselling and health psychologists in therapeutically helping people. These interventions are used to assist people in strengthening their capacity to manage and cope with their lives, and help work through some emotional difficulties. The module will cover some of the core theoretical principles and techniques used in various psychological interventions, when working with individuals (both children and adults) as well as with families and groups.

Clinical Psychology

You'll learn what it takes to work in the profession of Clinical Psychology, including an understanding of the historical context, as well as the current political and cultural context of the practice of clinical psychology. Over the course of the module, you will be introduced to the core skills (Assessment, Formulation, Intervention, Evaluation, Communication, Research and Reflection) used by clinical psychologists, and encouraged to critically evaluate their application across a range of settings and with a variety of client groups.

Emotion

Emotions are arguably of central importance to all aspects of human life. Behaviours such as caring for young, pursuing goals, avoiding danger, defending resources, and maintaining relationships are unimaginable (in humans at least) without the mediating and motivating effects of emotions. Even rationality and reasoning may depend on emotion according to some researchers. The study of emotion has advanced considerably since early theoretical investigations in the beginning of the 20th century until developments in the last decade in many psychology areas. You will discover these exciting developments in theory and practice.

Psychology Project

Your major project gives you the opportunity to develop your own research project, from initial planning through to conducting and collecting your data and then analysing the results. You will evaluate your research, carry out an in-depth literature review of that area, formulate hypotheses based on that review and design a study to test these, whilst at all times making sure that you maintain an ethical approach. This project also gives you the opportunity to explore a topic that you really enjoy in psychology at a much deeper level.

Cyberpsychology

The Internet is an essential part of 21st century living. This module will look at psychological explanations of being online and will approach questions such as do we behave differently online? And, how is the Internet used to initiate and maintain relationships? This will include theoretical explanations of how people communicate online, including research that looks at positive attributes of Internet use (e.g. developing relationships) and negative outcomes of Internet use (e.g. 'addiction' or ‘trolling’). This module will explore the role of social network sites in our everyday lives, with particular reference to self, identity, social influence, relationships and group dynamics.

Assessment

Throughout the course, we’ll use a range of assessment methods to help you and your tutors measure your progress. These will include exams, essays, reports and presentations. You’ll write a dissertation in your final year to demonstrate your learning and show us you’ve developed the knowledge and skills to complete the course.

Our Applied and Clinical Psychology BSc (Hons) degree is studied 100% online.

You’ll study through Canvas, our world-class online Learning Management System (LMS), which can be accessed from your phone, pc or tablet at home or on the move. Canvas provides instant access to study materials, forums, and support from tutors and classmates, as well as enabling easy submission of your assignments.

On successful completion of your studies you’ll be invited to attend a graduation ceremony on campus. If attending the ceremony in person is not possible then we’ll arrange to have your certificate sent to you.

To help you land your dream job, our Employability Service will work with you throughout your time at ARU and after you graduate.

We offer:

• careers advice, including one-to-one online and telephone appointments with our experienced advisers
• help with your CV, job searches, applications and interview preparation
• an online portal packed with useful careers resources
• our Employability Programme, which helps you hone the skills employers say they want in graduates.

Fees

The full tuition fee for this course is £14,100.

The tuition fees you pay each year for the Applied and Clinical Psychology BSc (Hons) will be:

Year 1 – £2,350

Year 2 – £2,350

Year 3 – £3,525

Year 4 – £2,937.50

Year 5 – £2,937.50

Accredited Prior Learning may reduce the tuition fees. This will be confirmed once your application has been submitted.

Funding

Government-backed part time student loans are available to cover the cost of studying this course. These are subject to eligibility and terms and conditions.

We offer payment by instalments, so you can spread the cost of studying with us.

For military students: You can use your ELCs towards this course. ARU is a recognised ELCAS provider (number 1007). Please contact your Learning Centre for details of ELC, eligibility and how to apply.

For more information on how you fund your studies please see our funding page.