Contacts

Professor Jan Fook
Director, Interprofessional Institute and Professor of Professional Practice Research
Room F5, Arts Building,
Royal Holloway University of London
Egham.

Professional Doctorate (Health & Social Care)*

Launch: April 2011

About

The information below is also contained in our Professional Doctorate (Health & Social Care) course brochure.

Aims and Philosophy

Eleni Hatzidimitriadou The programme is aimed at professionals in health and social care, such as medical practitioners, allied health and social workers who may be working in a variety of clinical, educational, development or management roles. The focus of the programme is inter-professional, aiming to provide transferable knowledge and skills which underpin health and social care professions broadly. It will equip practising health and social care professionals to provide leadership in their specific fields, through enabling them to contribute to the development of their profession with original research, and advanced practice. The aim is to develop practitioners for work at senior levels, who can undertake practitioner researcher roles as part of enabling them to work at these levels. They will be able to make significant contributions to their profession by undertaking and supporting research which is of direct relevance to clinical or professional practice and the workplace, and at the same time will have academic credibility. The approach is critical and reflexive, and uses adult learning models. It is underpinned by social science perspectives.

Course Structure (subject to revision)

6 year long units of 30 CP each plus 360 CP thesis
PT: 6 yrs (taught component yrs 1-3, thesis yrs 4-6)
FT: 3 yrs (taught component yrs 1-2, thesis yrs 2-3)
Possibility of exit award after taught component completed satisfactorily

Curriculum outline

Six units organised into three streams:

Research for practitioners (includes intro. to social research; research design; qualitative and quantitative methods; innovative methods for the research of practice) - 2 units

Professional and interprofessional practice (includes global and national contexts of professions; policy contexts; major issues facing professions; professionalism and reflexivity; professional expertise) - 2 units

Portfolio (may include electives, personal learning plans, application of research learning to specific topics) - equivalent of 2 units

plus:

50,000 word thesis

Assignments

Each unit will require the equivalent of one major assignment, but this may be made up of a series of smaller assignments/exercises. Where possible, assignments will be related to the current workplace or professional concerns of the student. The assignments for each unit will be designed to dovetail with each other, and to feed directly into work required for the thesis. In most instances the work required for each assignment may be used as a basis for other assignments.

The Thesis

The thesis will be based on original research of direct relevance to the practice or workplace of the student concerned. Academic supervisors with specific expertise will be appointed, and consideration will also be given to the appointment of practitioner mentors where appropriate. Separate assignments required for other units may constitute the basis of literature reviews or methodological chapters of the thesis.

The focus of the programme is interprofessional, aiming to provide transferable knowledge and skills which underpin health and social care professions nationally and internationally. It will equip practising health and social care professionals to provide management and leadership in their specific fields, through enabling them to contribute to the development of their profession with original research, and advanced practice. The aim is to develop practitioners for work at senior levels, who can undertake practitioner researcher roles as part of enabling them to work at these levels. They will be able to make significant contributions to their profession by undertaking and supporting research which is of direct relevance to clinical or professional practice and the workplace, and at the same time will have academic credibility. In addition, they will be well placed to undertake critical evaluation of research evidence and commissioning of research.