1. Biopsychosocial and Salutogenic Approach
Overcome the traditional biomedical vision to adopt an integral perspective that identifies social determinants and enhances the health assets of people and communities.
Enrolment open

- Fridays, from 16:00 to 20:00
- Saturdays, from 9:00 to 13:00
Biweekly sessions
Campus Salut Blanquerna-URL (Padilla, 326 i Travessera de Gràcia, 401)
Blanquerna School of Health Sciences
University graduates, preferably in the fields of social and health sciences (Psychology, Nursing, Social Work, Social Education, Nutrition, Medicine, Physiotherapy).
In the current social context, marked by the increase in emotional distress, social inequalities, and the growing complexity of health needs, it is essential to move towards more comprehensive care models. In this scenario, community health emerges as a key approach to understanding health not only as an individual matter, but as a collective process conditioned by environments, relationships, and living conditions.
Nursing, social education, social work, physiotherapy, or medicine professionals are increasingly faced with situations that require going beyond clinical or care interventions. This graduate studies program responds to this need by providing training that integrates community health and emotional well-being as central axes of professional practice, enabling preventive, coordinated, and territory-rooted intervention.
The program provides tools to work from a community and interdisciplinary perspective, aligned with the current evolution of health policies and emerging social challenges. In this way, the graduate studies program allows professionals to expand their role and position themselves as active agents in health promotion, reducing inequalities, and building healthier communities.
This graduate studies program will equip you with the key competencies to intervene in community health and emotional well-being with rigor, critical perspective, and social sensitivity.
At a transversal level, participants will develop a reflective and critical professional practice, essential for analyzing complex situations and making well-founded decisions. It will strengthen emotional management skills, essential both for self-care and for a quality helping relationship, in order to acquire intervention strategies from a multi- and interdisciplinary perspective that allow for comprehensive, person-centered care.
Regarding specific competencies, the program will offer a biopsychosocial and salutogenic approach to understanding the health and emotional well-being of individuals, families, and communities. Participants will learn to identify community health needs throughout the life cycle, detect situations of vulnerability from an intersectional perspective, and understand the impact of social inequalities on health. In addition, it will provide theoretical-practical knowledge and applied tools to design, implement, and evaluate community interventions aimed at promoting emotional well-being and health.
Overcome the traditional biomedical vision to adopt an integral perspective that identifies social determinants and enhances the health assets of people and communities.
Acquire specific tools (Mindfulness, emotional regulation, positive psychology) for the design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions in contexts of crisis and social vulnerability.
A unique training delivered jointly by the Blanquerna School of Health Sciences and the Pere Tarrés School of Social Education and Social Work, guaranteeing a transversal healthcare, psychological, and social vision.
The main objective of the graduate studies program is to train professionals capable of addressing community health and emotional well-being from an integral, biopsychosocial, and salutogenic perspective, equipping them with the necessary competencies to design and implement community interventions that promote health, reduce social inequalities, and generate a positive impact on people and communities.
Throughout the program, students will learn to identify the social conditioning factors of health and their impact on emotional well-being, incorporating a critical perspective on social inequalities and their effects on collective health. The graduate studies program also offers a clear vision of the main public health policies, situating community intervention within current institutional frameworks.
Lastly, the graduate studies program trains participants to design and implement community intervention strategies aimed at promoting emotional well-being and health, from a participatory, contextualized approach oriented towards social transformation.
Community health and emotional well-being are key areas for health promotion and disease prevention. They require moving beyond the traditional biomedical model towards a biopsychosocial, salutogenic approach centered on the person and the community. In the current context, marked by increasing social inequalities, situations of vulnerability, and processes of social exclusion, there is a growing demand for professionals in the social and healthcare sectors with specific training in identifying the social determinants of health and promoting collective emotional well-being.
This university expert certificate, in a blended (hybrid learning format) format, is oriented towards health promotion, community intervention, and the comprehensive approach to emotional well-being. It combines theoretical content grounded in scientific evidence with practical psychosocial intervention and emotional regulation strategies. It is a unique training program resulting from the interdisciplinary synergy between the Blanquerna School of Health Sciences and the Pere Tarrés Faculty of Social Education and Social Work, providing an integrated vision of the healthcare, social, and educational fields.
The program incorporates an innovative and applied methodology that sets it apart from other existing training proposals. The training is structured into four modules that integrate independent work with practical seminars, resolution of real cases, and experiential training experiences. It stands out for the use of active methodologies such as Service-Learning (ApS), simulation in specialized spaces like the Gesell Chamber, and specific emotional regulation workshops based on approaches such as mindfulness, positive psychology, and the systemic perspective. Work can be developed both individually and collectively, always under the guidance and supervision of the faculty.
The general objective of the course is to train social and health professionals for community intervention and the promotion of emotional well-being, from a practical, ethical approach based on the most current scientific models. With this training, participants will acquire advanced competencies to detect situations of vulnerability, identify community health assets, and design, implement, and evaluate intervention programs aimed at improving emotional well-being. In addition, professionals will be equipped to adapt interventions to the specific needs of different stages of the life cycle and to various social contexts, including crisis scenarios and high complexity situations.
Blanquerna School of Health Sciences (C. Padilla, 326. 08025 Barcelona)
Tel. 93 253 30 69 | [email protected]
The calendar for the 2026–2027 course can be consulted at the following link.
Program divided into 4 modules that combine theory and practice:
MODULE 1. Theoretical and methodological foundations of community health (4 ECTS)
MODULE 2. Health promotion and well-being (5 ECTS)
MODULE 3. Approach and community intervention strategies in health (3 ECTS)
MODULE 4. Emotional management and well-being (3 ECTS)
Teaching staff – Multidisciplinary team (URL and expert collaborators):
• Dr. Jesús Vilar Martín (Social Pedagogy, GIAS – Pere Tarrés School).
• Dr. Gisela Riberas (Psychology and Social Education, Pere Tarrés School).
• Ms. Cristina Alonso López (Psychology and Social Education, Hestia Foundation).
• Dr. Montserrat Garcia-Oliva (Social Anthropology, Pere Tarrés School).
• Dr. Isabel Torras Genís (Psychology, Child Health and Well-being).
• Ms. Anna López Romero (Social Work and Anthropology, DAPSI Sant Cugat).
• Ms. Gemma González Méndez (Social Work and Psychology, Hospital Mare de Déu de la Mercè).
• Dr. Míriam Rodríguez Monforte (Nursing and Nutrition, Blanquerna School).
• Dr. Núria Farriols (Clinical Psychology, Hospital de Mataró).
• Dr. Sofia Berlanga Fernández (Family and Community Nursing, ICS).
• Dr. Montserrat Esquerda-Aresté (Medicine and Bioethics, Borja Institute of Bioethics).
• Dr. Elena Carrillo Álvarez (Nutrition and Psychology, Blanquerna School).
• Dr. Teresa Pretel (Psychology, Systemic Family Therapy).
To access the master degree and/or university specialization diplomas, you must hold an official Spanish university degree, or a degree from another country in the European Higher Education Area. These studies are also open to students with a degree issued by an education system outside the European Higher Education Area, who do not need to have it approved, provided that the level of training is equivalent to that of an official Spanish degree and that, in the country of origin, the degree gives access to graduate studies. However, admission does not in any case imply the convalidation of the degree or any other type of recognition beyond allowing the student to access master and graduate studies at the University.
Furthermore, these courses are open to people who do not have a degree but who, due to their professional or personal background, are considered qualified to take them. In these cases, the degree they will obtain will be a university extension.
The application process consists of two parts:
Pre-enrollment
Enrollment
Students can pre-enroll online (by accessing Pre-enrollment | Blanquerna or the pre-enrollment option for each course). It can also be done in person at the School.
During the process, the candidate must submit the requested documentation:
Once pre-enrollment is complete, the documentation will be assessed, and the student will be informed of the result and how to enroll, if applicable.
Enrollment is the final step in the procedure to access the master degree or graduate studies. Each student will be informed in the letter of admission of his/her enrollment date. When enrollment is complete, with payment of the corresponding fee, the student will have definitively secured a place. If the student leaves the course, the enrollment fee will not be refunded in any case. The School reserves the right to cancel any courses for which the required minimum number of enrolled students has not been reached. In this case, the amount paid for enrollment will be refunded in full.
Documentation to be provided:
When students enroll, they will have two business days to pay the total cost of enrollment, by bank transfer, credit card or barcode. Studies can be paid in full or in installments, without any interest, by bank transfer.
If payment by installment is selected, students will have two business days following completion of enrollment to pay 33.3% of the total cost of the enrolled credits, using their chosen form of payment; this payment cannot be made by direct debit. The remaining 66.4% is split into two monthly installments, in January and March, payable by direct debit using the bank account number provided upon enrollment.
School alumni are given a 15% discount on the enrollment fee (non-cumulative discount). Distinctions obtained in the fourth academic year of the bachelor degree are not eligible for a discount in own master degrees and graduate studies. Prices are updated each academic year. Once enrollment is complete, the amount paid will not be refunded under any circumstances.
When a student enrolls, a contract for the provision of teaching services is formalized between the student and the Blanquerna Foundation, which is legally binding from the time of payment. Payment includes the corresponding insurance and, for students under the age of twenty-eight, compulsory academic insurance. If a student declines to take up a place, he/she will lose in full any amount he/she has paid.
The student accepts the rules for the use of computer services established by the Blanquerna Foundation. The student's personal data will be included in an automated file under the responsibility of the Blanquerna Foundation, so that this contract can be maintained and fulfilled. Students should note that their data may also be used to inform them about the future activities of the Foundation, or for the institution to send them publications.
In accordance with the provisions of Organic Law 15/1999 on the protection of personal data, students have the right to access their data to update, rectify or cancel them, or object to their use, by sending a letter, indicating which right they want to exercise.
This section is a summary of the general conditions for enrollment. It is only for guidance and therefore has no contractual value. In the event of any discrepancy, the provisions of the general conditions for enrollment specified in the receipt generated at the time of enrollment will prevail; this receipt formalizes the contract between the student and the Blanquerna Foundation; students can consult it on the intranet whenever they wish.
The School reserves the right to ask candidates with qualifications outside the EES for a letter from their university, embassy or consulate to certify that their studies enable them to pursue a master degree or graduate studies.
Students are responsible for having all the official documentation necessary for their stay in Spain while studying at the School. Applicants can ask for a pre-acceptance document attached to the pre-enrollment receipt to initiate applications for visas or scholarships or carry out any other administrative procedure. Under no circumstances does this document guarantee a place if all the access and admission requirements are not met. Once applicants have been accepted and enrollment is complete, they can request a letter of admission from the Academic Secretary, if required, by paying the corresponding fees.
For more information, please contact the prospective students department.
[email protected]
RELATED PROGRAMS
We equip you for change









