Postgraduate Studies in Health Promotion

Are you working in health promotion or interested in a career in Health Promotion? Monash University offers specialist units of study in health promotion in the Master of Public Health (MPH) and Master of Health Sciences (MHlthSci) courses.

If you have a degree in:

• Health science
• Nursing, dietetics or an allied health discipline
• Medicine or pharmacy
• Exercise science
• Education
• Development studies
• Journalism
• Arts
• Business

You can gain qualifications to equip you to design and manage strategies to tackle public health challenges in Australia and overseas.

Health promotion aims to promote wellness and prevent illness and injury at the population level. It has brought about dramatic benefits in the quality of life of Australians in areas like smoking, child injury, road traffic accidents, sun protection and HIV (to name a few).

Health promotion is now at the forefront of Australia's efforts to address problems like obesity, diabetes, depression, heart disease, cancers and the unequal health status of Indigenous peoples. Internationally, it is being applied to challenges like maternal and child mortality, malnutrition, HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and emerging chronic diseases in developing countries.

As a field of work health promotion is both ‘science and art'.  It uses a range of strategies, including policy  development, advocacy, community development, urban planning, mass media communication, education and counselling, organisational capacity building and a range of others. Health promotion is a growing field that offers diversity and satisfaction, with excellent job prospects in the local, national and international contexts. 

Graduates may take up positions in:

• Health foundations (e.g., VicHealth, Heart Foundation, Diabetes Australia)
• Government departments (e.g., Human Services, Health, Education, Planning)
• Community and women's health services
• International aid and development organisations
• Local government
• Hospitals and health care networks
• Divisions of General Practice
• Schools
• Corporate health services
• Leisure and recreation services

 The types of roles that people with health promotion qualifications fulfil are (for example):

• Project manager
• Policy analyst
• Research manager
• Advocacy manager
• Community development worker
• Capacity building advisor
• Health educator
• Peer education coordinator
• Media and marketing officer

The postgraduate courses offered through the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the determinants of health, the principles and theories that underpin health promotion, and the broad spectrum of strategies that are used to promote health. Students have the opportunity to develop skills for needs assessment, program planning, intervention mapping, program management and evaluation. Current priorities and practical challenges in health promotion are addressed, including reducing social inequalities in health status, engaging diverse populations, working in partnership with sectors outside of the health arena, capacity building, and developing policies to achieve sustained improvements in population health.

The MHlthSci is delivered primarily via offcampus studies and can be completed by coursework units only, or a combination of coursework units and a project or minor thesis. Information on the course structure of the MHlthSci is available at: www.monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/courses/3897.html

The MPH is delivered via both on-campus and off-campus mode, and can also be completed by coursework units only or a combination of coursework units and a project or minor thesis. Information on the course structure of the MPH can be found at: www.monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/courses/0046.html

The total credit points required for these courses are:

MHlthSci       72 (12 units)
MPH              72 (12 units)

Each can be undertaken over three semesters full-time or six semesters parttime.

Students have the option to exit from the MHlthSci with an award of Graduate Certificate or Graduate Diploma, provided that the requirements for the relevant specialisation are met. Total credit points required for a:

Graduate Certificate      24 (4 units)
Graduate Diploma         48 (8 units)