Dr Louisa Donald

Lecturer in Psychology

Louisa Donald

I am a Chartered Psychologist within the British Psychological Society (BPS), with a particular interest in the health, social, and developmental divisions.

My research background and teaching interests include eating behaviour, weight management, family relationships and atypical development. I also have an interest in the growing area of fashion psychology, and art in psychology more generally, and am keen to collaborate on research/teaching in this division.

PhD (2015-2020) – Institute for Health Research, University of Bedfordshire.
MSc Health Psychology (2012-2013) – University of Bedfordshire.
BSc Psychology (2009-2012) (2.1) – University of Hertfordshire.
Fellow (FHEA) - Advance HE.

I am the unit coordinator for:
- Foundations To Psychology (PSY001-1).
- Stress, Coping And Chronic Disease (PSY007-6).
- Lifestyle And Individual Differences (PSY003-6).
I also support with teaching on various other undergraduate and postgraduate units within the school, covering social, health, developmental, and cognitive psychology, as well as research methods.

Fashion, consumer behaviour, and sustainability.
Family relationships, young parenthood, and father involvement.
Eating behaviour and body-image.
Weight management and physical activity.
Child development and atypical development.

Sustainable communities: Understanding social and consumer engagement with charity shops (Research England funded).
Supporting informal carers via an online dancing intervention: A feasibility/acceptability study.
Developing user-driven weight management programmes during the pandemic and beyond.

Whitehall, J.M., Cook, E.J., Vseteckova, J., Jones, K., Pappas, Y., Donald, L., & Chater. A.M. (2025). Barriers and facilitators of engagement with remote health interventions targeting weight management for individuals living with excess weight. International Journal of Obesity, 1-42.
Horne, J., Donald, L., Gracia, R., Kentzer, N., Pappas, Y., Trott, M., & Vseteckova, J. (2024). Supporting adult unpaid carers via an online dancing intervention: A feasibility/acceptability study. PLOS Glob Public Health, 4(1), 1-17.
Cook, E.J., Elliott, E., Donald, L., Gaitan, A., Randhawa, G., Cartwright, S., Waqar, M., Egbutah, C., Nduka, I., Guppy, A., & Ali, N. (2023). Knowledge, perceived risk, and attitudes towards COVID-19 protective measures amongst ethnic minorities in the UK: A cross-sectional study. Public Health, 10, 1-17.
Donald, L., Lodder, A., Rogers, C., Cash, S., Pappis, Y., Randhawa, G. (2022). Talking Takes Off: A system-wide approach to prioritise children’s speech, language and communication needs. Progress in Community Health Partnerships, 16(4), 463-471.
Donald, L., Davidson, R., Murphy, S., Hadley, A., Puthussery, S., & Randhawa, G. (2021). How young, disadvantaged fathers are affected by socioeconomic and relational barriers: A UK based qualitative study. Families, Relationships and Societies, 11(3), 1-18.
Murphy, S., Joffe, V., Donald, L., Radley, J., Sunthararajah, S., Welch, C., Bell, K., Messer, D., Crafter, S., Fairhurst, C., Corbacho, B., Rodgers, S., & Torgerson, D. (2021). Evaluating ‘Enhancing Pragmatic Language skills for Young children with Social communication impairments’ (E-PLAYS): a feasibility cluster-randomised controlled trial. Pilot and Feasibility Studies, 7(5), 1-18.
Murphy, S., Chowdhury, U., White, S.W., Reynolds, L., Donald, L., Gahan, H., Zeinab, I., Kulkarni, M., Scrivener, L., Shaker-Naeeni, H., & Press, D.A. (2017). Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Versus a Counselling Intervention for Anxiety in Young People with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47, 3446–3457.