Health and Wellness Degrees

One of the fastest growing degrees within sports are health and wellness degrees, which are available at every level. The most popular degree is the Bachelors of Health and Wellness, typically a B.S. degree. However there are also Masters in Health and Wellness available. Sometimes, these degrees have different titles, such as the Bachelors, or Masters in:

• Wellness and Nutrition
• Health and Human Services
• Health and Wellness Management
• Wellness and Health Promotion
• Health and Wellness Education

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Are There Online Health and Wellness Programs?

Yes. Like the majority of the Sports Management and Health-related industry programs, there are both Bachelors and Masters degrees available through fully-online accredited universities

Outside of the traditional medical-related degrees within education such as kinesiology, pre-med tracks, or exercise science degree programs, health and wellness is a far more open-ended area to study.

There are many options, including style of programs available, the curriculum involved within each, and the career path options post-graduation. With that in mind, it's important to have an underlying idea of what you want to get out of your health and wellness education to be able to select a program that fits your needs. Areas of study can vary widely from scientific literature and research in nutrition, exercise science, and health psychology, to stress management and functional or alternative medicine.

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6 Top Accredited Programs in Health & Wellness

1) University of Louisiana Lafayette - Online BS in Kinesiology with Concentration in Health Promotion & Wellness

ULL's program is both flexible and reasonably priced. At a flat rate of $380 per credit hour for all online programs, it's easy to compare and contrast your options. Also, there are 5 different months during which you can begin the program in either 16-week courses or an accelerated path consisting of 8-week course blocks. Health Promotions deals primarily with encouraging healthy lifestyles and promoting wellness in other individuals holistically. This is typically done through education in either a corporate workplace environment or non-profit agency by developing, planning and implementing programs, identifying community needs through data, and evaluating the effectiveness and progress of programs designed to encourage healthy lifestyles, policies, and environments. Additionally, you'll be well-prepared to take the Certified Health Education Specialist exam should you be interested, in which case you could also become a grant writer or grant evaluator for public health organizations. At their core, health promoters are advocates!
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2) Arizona State University - Online BS in Health Sciences - Healthy Lifestyle & Fitness

This health sciences degree uses an interdisciplinary approach to provide the skills needed to work specifically in the preventative side of health care. The use of lifestyle coaching, physical activity and health care education to improve the health of others are key focuses. This program primes graduates to continue their education in health care fields such as nutrition, exercise science, psychology or public health. Upon completing this program you'll obtain the necessary overview to sit for nationally accredited certifications in the health and fitness area, such as the American College of Sports Medicine’s certified personal trainer exam. Further, after completing the degree and 1 supervised coaching practical course, you’ll be eligible for the National Board Certification for Health and Wellness Coaches.
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3) University of Wisconsin – Online BS & MS in Health and Wellness Management

These programs provide and hone in specifically on the credentials needed to start a career in health promotion and corporate workplace wellness. Concerns across the corporate landscape regarding employee health and productivity, as well as talent recruitment and retention, are just a few reasons why employers might implement or aim to improve their wellness initiatives. The need for qualified professionals with the training to lead successful wellness programs that result in healthier (and happier) employees is on the rise. From healthier cafeteria options (or implementing the idea of a workplace kitchen in the first place!), to incentivized campaigns, to health screenings, even a small-scale program has the potential to improve employee well-being, which pays dividends to the company’s bottom line. The BS program at UW is 61 credits consisting of 21 online courses while the MS is only 36 credit hours and 12 classes. There is also a certificate option through this university in Sustainability and Well-Being! All three are accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and are members of both the Wellness Council of America and the Wellness Council of Wisconsin, specifically.
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4) Creighton University – Online MS in Integrative Health & Wellness

Creighton’s master’s program is comprised of 36 credit hours that can be completed fully online and are asynchronous, allowing for “go at your own pace” flexibility. The program provides two unique pathways for students with concentrations in Health and Wellness Coaching a brand new track in Healthy Aging. Healthy Aging offers practitioners in wellness industry an opportunity to specialize in health coaching for the aging adult population. Students who select a healthy aging concentration will earn a Master of Science in Integrative Health and Wellness with dual concentrations in Health and Wellness Coaching and Healthy Aging—all while staying within the 36-credit hour curriculum.
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5) Rowan University – Online MA in Wellness & Lifestyle Management

This program tops the charts in terms of flexibility. It consists of ten, 3 credit courses – the first nine of which can be completed in any order. Therefore, students can also enroll at any of the starting points of the 8-week modules through the year in order to accommodate various scheduling considerations. Coursework covers the foundational topics of health and wellness management with an emphasis on leadership and professional presentation, program design and planning, nutrition, and disease management. After completing the general coursework, students are asked to participate in a Capstone project and/or an internship facilitated by the program’s Internship Coordinator. This gives the online learning environment an opportunity to step out and build real-world, demonstrable professional experience
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6) Liberty University – Online MA in Human Services Counseling – Health & Wellness

This program offered by Liberty is arguably the most unique of those presented on this list, for several reasons. This MA is in Human Services with a specialization in Health and Wellness. This means it’s designed to facilitate students’ mastery of human behavior studies in a nursing or adult care environment, unlike those programs whose soul focus is the health and wellness programming aspect to the industry. Course materials focus on developing expertise in areas including: health promotion and disease prevention, strategies for end-of-life care, and health policies and ethics. Liberty also has a dedicated Center of Counseling and Family Studies which offers a core of specialized courses unique to the program where students can pursue scholarly research in areas related to the program’s curriculum or career-oriented interests. Students even have the ability to customize the degree to include aspects of life that most interest them! Although administered online, students on this track also have the opportunity to attend weekend-intensives on-campus where they can collaborate with peers and engage with their instructors. Finally, there is a faith-based component to all programs at Liberty. For students looking for an online master’s program that implements Christian philosophies amid rigorous academics, LU should certainly be at the top of the list.
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9 Typical Health & Wellness Course Curriculum

Foundations of Health Promotions

Discusses in a broad context the roles and responsibilities, ethics, settings, literature, and future trends of the industry. Also examined are the history, philosophical foundations, related health behavioral theories, and planning models specific to health promotion.

Basic Human Health

This course provides a background in the core principles of nutrition and stresses the link between nutrition practices, health, disease, and exercise performance. Students also gain practical knowledge through understanding nutrition labeling and wording as well as evaluation literature.

Health Behavior Modification

This course seeks to heighten students’ understanding of the social and behavioral factors that contribute to health decisions and behaviors, with an ultimate goal of learning how to utilize these factors in improving public health efforts as well as individual decision-making in the case of a client working with a health coach. Through a set of experiential learning exercises, students will learn to apply the science of health behavior change in their own lives.

Wellness Initiatives Integration in School Settings

This course faces the growing demand for wellness initiatives for students, their families and staff in P through 12 school settings, head on. Teachers, school nurses, school administrators, and community health promotion professionals must all understand how to build wellness programming into their school communities to build stronger, more independent, and healthier young people.

Drugs & Society

Psychological, social, medical, legal, and economic aspects of use, misuse, and even the abuse of substances are explored along with the implications to be able to adequately administer education and prevention programming and material.

Health Behavior Theory

Theory and application of health promotion/education planning, implementation, and evaluation by health professions. This class emphasizes research related to the core determinants of health behavior and techniques used by professionals to foster human health. Course objectives include the ability to identify several theories, concepts and models from a range of social and behavioral disciplines, to point out the causes of social and behavioral factors that affect health of individuals and populations, to recognize individual, organizational and community concerns including their assets, resources and deficits for social and behavioral interventions, and to describe steps and procedures for the planning, implementation and evaluation of public health programs, policies, and interventions.

Health Coaching Concepts & Skills

Health coaching techniques and skills for health promotion professionals with emphasis on the practical application of brief intervention and motivational interviewing skills to promote healthy lifestyle changes.

Exercise Prescription & Chronic Disease Management

Overviews the physical, physiological, and metabolic responses the human body exhibits to exercise testing and training in healthy individuals and in those with metabolic, cardiovascular, and/or pulmonary disease. The focus will be on exercise as both treatment and prevention of disease, as well as managing healthy and clinical populations in a safe and professional setting. Current literature will be included to keep students up to date with novel treatments. An overview of environmental and legal considerations in the prescriptive process will also be discussed.

Positive Perceptions & Performance Wellness

This course focuses on core concepts from positive psychology and the strengths movement from the perspective of wellness philosophy. Students will explore ways in which positive perceptions can be used to help target populations to achieve personal and work life satisfaction. Competency in applied interventions in workplace, school, clinical and community settings to enhance wellness, productivity and performance will each be developed. This class also addresses important drivers of health, by incorporating the fields of positive psychology and wellness.

What Career Paths are Available With a Degree in This Area?

Health Coaching

Health coaches encourage healthy lifestyles in their clients through physical fitness, nutritional advice and any recommended behavioral changes. Many health and wellness coaches focus on a person’s health and how factors like diet and lifestyle can work together to provide a better quality of life. As a health coach, you offer resources and innovative new approaches to navigate their personalized health goals. Similar titles to health coach include a recovery coach, corporate health coach, and community health worker. Success in these types of roles requires you to have a great deal of patience and empathy in addition to being an extroverted, well-organized communicator with great leadership skills. There are quite a few health coaching specific certificates out there as well to enhance a degree in health & wellness and create a more attractive resume for coaching.

Nutrition

For students more interested in the science sector of health and wellness, nutrition has several opportunities. Nutrition, of course, studies how food impacts the human body and focuses on how to eat for optimal health. Not only does science in relation to nutrition continue to evolve, but much of the information you find online is conflicting regarding nutrition. Nutrition professionals aim to provide their patients and clients with the most accurate info as it relates to their own body, body type, and current limitations or concerns. Some roles you can pursue in nutrition include a nutritionist, food scientist, dietary manager, epidemiologist, or a microbiologist. In addition to a strong background in wellness and human sciences, you often need strong interpersonal, problem-solving, teamwork and critical thinking skills.

Health Program Management

This area is more along the lines of “traditional” in terms of what many of the health and wellness promotions degrees cover in depth. This sector will have many administrative duties related to the employer and the workplace. Duties regardless of title typically include overseeing staff and designing and coordinating daily activities for a variety of populations. Apart from administrative duties, you may also work alongside public health advocacy groups and community stakeholders to find resources, funding, and volunteers for various initiatives. These health officials work in public health agencies, non- and for-profit organizations, as well as medical facilities, assisted living communities, and hospitals. Titles might include: healthcare coordinator, public health coordinator, community health coordinator, health services manager, or public health medical administrator.

Sports Degrees by Level

• Bachelors degrees in sports
• Online Bachelors in Sports Management
• Online Masters in Sports Management
• Doctorate degrees in sports

Sport Program Areas

• Athletic Administration Degrees
• Exercise Science Degrees
• Kinesiology Degrees
• Coaching Degrees
• Health and Wellness Degrees
• Sports Industry Management
• Sports Analytics Degrees
• Sports Marketing Degrees
• Sports Psychology Degrees
• Recreation Management Degrees