Prof Doc

Professional Doctorate (Health and Social Care)

3 good reasons to study a Professional Doctorate (Health and Social Care) at Salford

Promotes an evaluative culture in your workplace to complement professional and organisational goals
Helps you utilise an evidence-based approach to all dimensions of your practice
Develops your leadership capability, critical and creative thinking and self-awareness.

This course has been developed in collaboration with in-service professionals along the key themes of education for:

Personal strategies for practice development
Creative decision-making and risk-taking
Developing presence, influence and political know-how
Evidence-based practice and research

The taught component is two years part-time and is concerned with critical self-assessment and the identification and development of strategies for use in the practice area. The research component is three years part-time, building on the taught component to develop evidence-based practice and introduce innovative strategies in all areas of professional practice.

Course details

Professional Doctorates are as rigerous as traditional PhDs but are different in focus. A traditional PhD subject can be relatively fixed, in terms of what is researched. A Professional Doctorate is more variable and adaptable to change due to developments in your profession. This is because the Professional Doctorate is linked intrinsically to your workplace.

The doctorate has run very successfully for eight years. It comprises two years taught modules which you must pass to progress onto a further three years research component during which, you write up your thesis.

During the research component you independently undertake PhD level research study, supervised by two experienced academics. Although the Professional Doctorate programme is housed within the School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Care we have supervisors from across the Health & Social Care College. We have experts in child psychology, social care, public health, occupational therapy, radiography, physiotherapy to supervise your own area of expert knowlege.

Course Structure

The first two years of the course are modular, with facilitated content, designed to help you refine and develop your initial research ideas. The latter three years are part-time also, focused upon the research element, and there are key milestones at the end of each year within the research element. The thesis is between 40,000- 60,000 words long and you have a viva.

Year 1, Semester 1

Doctoral Foundation(30 credits)

In this module you will learn:

Introduction of moduel: the politics of education, the importance of co-operation
Theory and styles of learning
Reflective practice
Identifying strengths and learning needs
Expectations at doctoral level; critical thinking; critical listening; critical appraisal; originality and creativity for example
Introduction to the politics of research
Introduction to Research Methodologies
Participation and empowerment in research, reaching out to excluding groups
Applying theory to practice
Social divisions and ethics
Reading and reviewing journal articles
Presentation skills

Year 2, Semester 2

Research Methods (30 credits)

This module will explore:

Comtemporary issues and debates in research
Theories/paradigms of research
Ethics of research
Reviewing literature and the critical analysis of existing research
Developing a research question/hypothesis
Designing appropriate research
Role and function of the pilot study
Developing a research proposal
Access and sampling
Methods of data collection
Fundamentals of frequently used statistical tests
Presentation, analysis and interpretation of data
Uses and application of ICT
Dissemination and publication of research

This course has been developed in collaboration with health and social care professionals and has the following themes:

Personal strategies for practice development
Creative decision making and risk taking
Developing presence, influence and political know-how
Evidence based practice and research skills

These key themes can be applied to the following modules:

Year 1, Semester 3

Critical Leadership (30 credits)

Year 2, Semester 1

Professions and Practice (30 credits)

Year 2, Semester 2

The Practitioner Researcher (60 credits)

Year 3 Onwards

Research Component

This is a 40,000 - 60,000 research thesis

Course Enquiries

For course enquiries please call us on:

T: +44 (0) 161 295 4545

Or Email us at:

Home/EU students
E: enquiries@salford.ac.uk

International students
E: international@salford.ac.uk