Health Psychology & Behavioral

Doctoral Degree Program

Opportunities for graduate studies

The health psychology and behavioral medicine program at the University of North Texas prepares you to work as a clinical researcher and practitioner in health care settings or to pursue a professional career in academic or applied settings.

While pursuing the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Health Psychology and Behavior Medicine, we provide broad and general training in the foundations of psychology as well as the activities of professionals who study the psychology of health and provide behavioral medicine services. Our curriculum, which is developed in close collaboration with the UNT Health Science Center at FortWorth, places a strong emphasis on:

• mind/body interaction as you focus on knowledge of the physiological and psychological antecedents of illness and health
• the integration of biological and behavioral science approaches to the promotion of health, the prevention and treatment of illness, and the identification of etiological and diagnostic correlates of illness and health
• an interdisciplinary understanding of biopsychosocial factors relevant to health and illness and the applications of this knowledge to prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation

Throughout the program, you will be mentored by faculty researchers and have opportunities to work on a supervised practicum team. Additional training in clinical services, course work and professional development is provided during a preceptorship, a full year of training at the health science center.

Our doctoral program is accredited by the American Psychological Association (750 First Street NE,Washington, DC 20002-4242, 800-374-2721). This accreditation means the program meets or exceeds the organization's requirements for academic excellence.

Facilities

Our program houses cardiovascular health, psychosocial health and sleep health laboratories. You may participate in research from the beginning of your training in our laboratories and interdisciplinary research centers.

The UNT Psychology Clinic provides professional services and referrals to clients and provides professional and competencies training to graduate students. It includes psychotherapy rooms, rooms for research, and rooms with one-way mirrors for live observation of individual and group sessions. Extensive digital recording capabilities are available for use in supervision and training.

The Center for Psychosocial Health Research performs research on wellness while battling a chronic illness. This builds a foundation for the future development of psychosocial and behavioral interventions that encourage health-related behavioral change.

The UNT Center for Sport Psychology and Performance Excellence provides sport psychology services and consultants to six UNT sport teams and more than 125 individual athletes, as well as coaches and sports medicine staff.

Admission requirements

You must meet the admission requirements for the Toulouse Graduate School in addition to the program's requirements. The minimum criteria include 24 semester hours of advanced psychology courses plus one of the following:

• 3.0 GPA overall on your Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree
• 3.5 GPA on your last 60 semester hours of the B.A. or B.S. degree
• 3.5 GPA in your undergraduate psychology course work
• 3.5 GPA on a completed master's degree (exclusive of practicum and thesis)
• completed doctoral degree in another field
• first or second author on an article published in a peer-reviewed scientific or professional journal

You also will need to submit your GRE verbal and quantitative scores and have a reading knowledge of a foreign language or demonstrate competency in a research tool subject approved by the department and the graduate council. For more information on the admission criteria, visit www.psychology.unt.edu.

Admission to our program is not determined by one criterion or quantitative measure of achievement.Motivation, aptitude and selfawareness are highly valued, as are skills in communication, research methods and scientific writing. Life experiences relevant to research, mental health and the ability to work with people from different backgrounds in culturally diverse contexts should be described in a background and goals statement.

Our faculty members review applications during January, and invitations for interviews are made in January and February. The interview process consists of meeting with one or more health psychology and behavioral medicine faculty members and students. Telephone interviews are possible but less informative for you and faculty members.

Admission decisions are made by early April, and you should be contacted by phone as well as in writing. Your decision to accept an offer to join the program needs to be finalized by April 15 unless the offer of admission is specifically delayed.

Degree requirements

This degree requires a minimum of 103 semester hours. In addition to a one-year supervised internship, you will complete:

• 20 semester hours of general psychology courses
• 42 semester hours of clinical core courses
• two dissertation-related examinations (the proposal and the final comprehensive examination)

You may enter the degree program with either a bachelor's or master's degree. No more than 30 hours from a master's degree can be applied toward deficiencies for the doctoral degree.

Upon the consent of the advisory committee, if you are entering the program with a master's degree or equivalent, you may transfer a maximum of 12 semester hours beyond the master's degree. This is provided that the work has been taken in a department offering a doctoral degree in psychology. Thus, a minimum of 48 hours in residence would remain to be completed.

Financial assistance

We have departmentally funded teaching assistantships, research assistantships, fellowships and part-time clinical externships to assist you financially during your doctoral studies. The program seeks to provide at least partial support for most doctoral students for at least four years. Competitive scholarships are available from the graduate school and other sources.Visit graduateschool.unt.edu or financialaid.unt.edu for more information.