What did you like about the Master's specialisation and why?
What I liked about the Master's is that it starts with a theoretical course, so that everyone gets the same information about how you could change behaviour. After that course, there are more practical courses and you really get insight into how to do things once you finished the Master's and want to work in the behaviour change field. It's also nice that we had to do an internship. I really liked these practical courses and the fact that we did an internship in a few months, because they challenge you to act and think like a real psychological behaviour changer.
What did you think about the atmosphere in class?
Because of Corona, I did not have a lot of classes in real life. That was a pity, but we did have one seminar per week that we could follow on the university as well as online, you could choose what you preferred. I preferred going to the university, as it was really nice to see your fellow students and the teacher. The atmosphere in this seminar, but also in the rest of the online lectures was very nice and open. Everyone wanted to make the best out of it and was motivated to stay in contact with each other in a Corona-proof way. The teachers were also very friendly and they really wanted to know how you were doing. During the Master's they often asked what we think that is going well and what we think that could improve. They immediately tried to improve these feedback points, so that we could still take advantage of that during the year.
What did you find most challenging in your Master’s? Have you encountered any obstacles?
The most challenging about the Master's is the transition from Bachelor's to Master's. It is a lot more work and you have to invest more time in it than I expected at first. Although we do have a lot of group assignments, you also need to be independent and show your skills and knowledge in individual assignments and exams. This is challenging but at the same time very educational, because once you are working this is also expected of you.
Can you tell a little bit about your internship?
My internship was about driving under the influence of nitrous oxide (laughing gas). This is an emerging problem in the Netherlands and I created an intervention to decrease this phenomenon. I am very excited about this internship and intervention.
Why do you think is it important that that there are people out there with this degree?
I think it is very important that there will be psychological behaviour changers since there are still a lot of people that are behaving in an unhealthy or unsustainable way. For instance, unhealthy eating behaviour, people not getting enough daily exercise and people behaving in a way that is not sustainable really need to change in order to stay living in healthy and sustainable circumstances. After my Master's degree I want to work in a behaviour change company that creates successful interventions for all different kinds of problem behaviours.