Dr Louisa Donald

Lecturer in Psychology

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

I initially joined the University to study for the Health Psychology MSc, and eventually went on to complete a PhD within the Institute for Health Research.

My research background and teaching interests include eating behaviour, weight management, family relationships and atypical development, particularly within the context of socioeconomic inequality. 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.

I am the unit coordinator for:

Foundations To Psychology (PSY001-1).
Applied Health Psychology And Public Health (PSY017-2).
Stress, Coping And Chronic Disease (PSY007-6).

I also support with teaching on various other undergraduate and postgraduate units within the school, including:

Psychology In Every Day Life (PSY004-1)
Atypical Child and Adolescent Development (PSY001-3)
Social Processes and Lifespan Development (PSY001-2)
Health and Wellbeing Psychology (PSY019-1)
Developmental Psychology (PSY058-6)
Lifestyle and Individual Differences (PSY003-6)
Health Psychology In Context (PSY005-6).

Family relationships, young parenthood, and father involvement, particularly within socioeconomically disadvantaged communities.
Eating behaviour and body-image.
Weight management and physical activity.
Child development and atypical development, particularly within socioeconomically disadvantaged communities.

Supporting informal carers via an online dancing intervention: A feasibility/acceptability study.
Developing user-driven weight management programmes during the pandemic and beyond.

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 (published online ahead of print 2022).
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 (published online ahead of print 2021).
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.