This month our very own Appearance Matters the podcast co-host, Bruna Costa, joins us to share insights from her doctoral research project, conducted as part of her Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology. 

Bruna discusses the importance of increasing representation of marginalised groups within visible difference research and working closely with community partners. Bruna also shares novel insights from her research focussed on the experiences of UK Somali adults with visible facial differences. 

A message from Bruna: Thank you to the individuals who took part in this research, and shared their experiences so openly, and our community collaborators, who were instrumental to the project. Thank you to the funders of this work, the Vocational Training Charitable Trust (VTCT) Foundation. Thank you to my doctoral supervisors, Heidi Williamson, Diana Harcourt and Habib Naqvi.


To find out more about Bruna's research, her thesis will soon be available on the UWE repository. 

To find out more about Nura Aabe's work: 
BBC news article:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-57684958

Bristol TEDxBristol talk:
https://tedxbristol.com/about/person/nura_aabe

To find out more about similar research:
South Asian perceptions and experiences of Cleft Lip and Palate phttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1748681510002317?casa_token=jMz0v96LLW4AAAAA:KT8CKBNXrq-Azy2Z8iUOfPeBbCSShZNJf1pnjCpLLFddlaxcwgepzV2NjoGnRINIyp_WFN3X7A

Bangladeshi women's perceptions and experiences of neurofibromatosis. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10897-007-9097-0

South Asian women's perceptions and experiences of vitiligo. https://academic.oup.com/bjd/article/163/3/481/6642583

Chinese women's perceptions and experiences of skin conditions.
https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/142734/2/Thompson.%20Cultural%20nuances%20of%20skin%20shame.pdf

South Asian women perceptions and experiences of breast cancer.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pon.4187?casa_token=6U6uTSKsSrsAAAAA%3ANZ3BSF0S_Wb3pYcKk1Mb0LBefd2dP0YjQEFMjRhdvlQfpQUQb7kYtqQ1xvPcNkD-Y9FWhUMk7RAU7zQ

77: Experiences of UK Somali adults with visible facial differences

Appearance Matters: The Podcast! Is the official podcast of the Centre for Appearance Research - a world leading research centre investigating body image and appearance psychology research, based at the University of the West of England in Bristol, UK.

Hosted and produced by Nadia Craddock, Bruna Costa, Maia Thornton, and Abbi Mathews.

New music by: https://toplinefilm.com