Studying in Health Psychology

The start number allocation (>>see short info video<< [only available in german]) for the Master's thesis marathon can only be allocated in advance due to the strictly limited number of starting places (=supervision places) per semester exclusively by Mr. Prof. Schwerdtfeger.
For this purpose, please arrange an individual preliminary meeting with our secretary Ms. Susanne Wieland (see contact box start page).

• Prerequisites
  Please understand that we can only make fixed supervision offers following such a preliminary meeting to those students who have the necessary prerequisite examinations according to the Master's study plan (to be proven by the Transcript of Records)
  • see study plan/curriculum

• Further prerequisite
  A Master's thesis in Health Psychology requires attendance of the course Specific Research Methods (Psychophysiological Assessment in the Laboratory and Field)! This laboratory exercise should be completed before the data collection phase and is only offered once per academic year (winter semester only). Therefore, if you are interested in a Master's thesis in health psychology, it is strongly recommended that you plan to attend this course in good time!
• Timetable (>>see info video "Schedule - Topics - Deadlines"<< [only available in german])
  We expect that students who have received a confirmation of supervision
  • Within the semester in which the supervision officially begins (1st semester), a planning presentation must be given in the accompanying PV.
  • The results presentation must be held no later than the 3rd semester after the start of the thesis (i.e. a maximum of 2 semesters after the planning presentation).
  • The thesis must be submitted within 4 months of the presentation of the results.

Please also note that Master's theses are scientific studies that require an ethics application and must also be pre-registered on one of the usual scientific platforms (e.g. OSF; AsPredicted). preregistered before data collection can begin.

Since we want to provide you with particularly good support and you should benefit from our specific methodological expertise, we try to focus the topics for Master's theses on our areas of interest (>>see info video "Timetable - Topics - Deadlines"<< [only available in german]).

These include the following areas:

Negative aspects and adversities of life
In this subject area, we deal with negative emotions and conditions, such as stress and coping with it, depression, rumination, anxiety or burnout. We place a particular focus on non-clinical manifestations of these characteristics. Studies in this area can be carried out in cooperation with the MedUni/LKH (e.g. fear of operations/the course of illness), but also in our central laboratory (e.g. experimental induction of emotions or stress) and in the everyday lives of the test subjects.

What makes life beautiful; psychosocial resources and health
In this area, we deal with various psychosocial resources (e.g. optimism, social support, positive affect, life satisfaction, self-efficacy, interoceptive abilities) and their presumed effects on health. We often analyze psychosocial resources in combination with the negative aspects described above in the sense of a buffer function. For example, studies analyze resource variables as inter-individual correlates of health indicators or induce resources through experimental manipulation.

Health behavior
Studies in this area deal with various health behaviors and their effects on physical and mental health. Recently, we have been particularly interested in the area of physical activity and diet (especially intermittent fasting). Possible questions include, for example, relationships between physical activity (not necessarily sport!) and well-being, cognitive performance or creativity, as well as the effects of a period of fasting on psychophysiological and cognitive variables.

Important:
In the Master's theses on all of these topics, students can set individual priorities in consultation with their supervisor. An important premise is the addition of one or more psychophysiological or behavioral (possibly also medical) variables in addition to the self-report. By adding a further data modality, we ensure the particular health relevance of the psychosocial constructs. Master's thesis studies can be conducted in an applied setting (e.g. clinic, workplace), in a controlled (experimental) laboratory setting or in an everyday setting (outpatient). Especially in the laboratory and outpatient setting, we have a wide range of experience and can offer you an excellent research infrastructure (equipment, software) and a lot of technical and theoretical know-how and support.

(>>see info video "Timetable - Topics - Deadlines"<< [only available in german])

• The thesis must be submitted at least 4 weeks before the start of the examination.
• Important: This only applies if the individual parts of the Master's thesis (theory part, method/results, discussion) have been reviewed and reported back beforehand .
• A period of 2 weeks must be allowed for each feedback (plus revision time on the part of the student).
• Otherwise, a period of 4 weeks should be allowed for review before submission.
• It is essential that the data (SPSS or R), the evaluation syntax, the output of the calculations (in a generally readable form as a PDF file) and the vote of the ethics committee (PDF document) are sent by email attachment with the Master's thesis (as a PDF document). Unfortunately, it is not possible to review the work without these files. The submission deadline is no later than three days after the release of the paper!

(In principle, the deadlines according to the dean's office apply)

Also important: Prof. Schwerdtfeger requires a separate hard copy of the Master's thesis when the thesis is finally submitted (with the name printed on the front).

• Template for laboratory
• Template for outpatient assessment

Here is an example of the pre-registration of a master's thesis (T. Graßmann, 2020) in our hemodynamic laboratory on OSF (Open Science Framework):

• https://osf.io/9fxn6

• Manuscript design according to APA, 7th edition
• Citation guidelines according to APA

• Declaration of consent
• Information sheet

The latest information on the GDPR follows

see Devices and software

see Hemodynamic laboratory of health psychology