Hannah Lewis, BA(Hons) MSc MRes

Profile

PhD title: Exploring ethnicity in body dissatisfaction and implications for prevention strategies

I am a LISS-DTP funded PhD student (2019) at the Unit of Psychological Medicine at the Centre for Psychiatry and Mental Health, where I previously completed an MSc in Cultural and Global Perspectives in Mental Health Care (2017), and an MRes in Psychological Therapies (2019). My PhD project, which has been adopted by the NIHR North Thames Applied Research Collaboration, builds on my research in body dissatisfaction prevention, cultural inclusivity and co-production to co-design a cultural adaptation of ‘The Body Project’ – a body dissatisfaction prevention programme with the most robust evidence base in the field. My PhD explores the implementation of ‘The Body Project’ in the UK, specifically looking at how to culturally adapt the intervention to be inclusive of ethnic minority groups such as South Asian women and girls. Please find out more here.

During my PhD, I undertook a 3-month secondment as a UKRI Policy Fellow where she supported the Health and Social Care Committee’s inquiries into body image and children and young people’s mental health. Other research interests and publications include, but are not limited to: the conceptualisation, risk factors, and prevention targets of ‘body image disorders’ such as eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorder, the involvement of people with lived-experience in and the co-production of body image interventions, the experiences of body image disorders across LGBTQIA+ groups, especially transgender and non-binary individuals, and barriers and facilitators in accessing eating disorder services for South Asian groups. I have worked in a senior role for a national mental health charity across numerous research, policy and practice areas, where I consult on policy areas and facilitate qualitative research. I led on a number of key areas, including: children and young people’s mental health; co-production; early intervention in psychosis (EIP) services; and physical health inequalities among people with a ‘severe mental illness’ (SMI).

Supervisors: Professor Mark Freestone, Dr Ruth Taylor, Dr Una Foye (King’s College London) and Dr Erica Cini (East London Foundation Trust)

Teaching

I supervise projects on the MSc Eating Disorders and Clinical Nutrition course at UCL. 

Research

Publications

Moorhead, B., Arnull, L.G. and Lewis, H.K. (Accepted Oct 2022) ‘Sexuality and Gender Minority Experiences of Minority Stress in the Climate of Anti-LGBT Legislation: A Qualitative Systematic Review’. Quality and Quantity Journal.

Lewis, H.K and Cini, E. (Accepted Sept 2023). ‘Eating disorders and culture’. Cutting-Edge Psychiatry in Practice (CEPiP) Journal.

Lewis, H.K., and Foye, U. (2022),  "From prevention to peer support: a systematic review exploring the involvement of lived-experience in eating disorder interventions", Mental Health Review Journal, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 1-17. 

Lewis, H. 2019. Healthy weight management for people living with a mental illness’. Mental Health Nursing Journal – Physical health special issue. Aug/Sept 2019.  

Book chapters

Lewis, Hannah. 2022. ‘Fitness practitioners overcoming of self-objectification: The problem with legs, bums and tums’ In: The Routledge Handbook of Gender Politics in Sport and Physical Activity. Publisher: Routledge International

Lewis, Hannah. 2022. ‘Experiencing eating and body image difficulties in the context of higher education: challenges and potential solutions. In: The Practical Handbook of Eating Difficulties. Publisher: Pavillion

Lewis, Hannah. 2022. ‘Disclosure and reasonable adjustments in the workplace’ In: The Practical Handbook of Eating Difficulties. Publisher: Pavillion