04 December 2025
Loving ACTion: Appearence and Romantic Relationships Programme
An evaluation was then carried out to determine the impact the podcast had. They shared their findings with us.
Click to enlarge
What is the Loving ACTion podcast?
Loving ACTion is a self-guided podcast intervention grounded in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). It has been developed by researchers at the Centre for Appearance Research, specifically designed to support adults with visible differences navigate intimacy and romantic relationships.
An evaluation was carried out to determine the impact of the Loving ACTion podcast, using surveys and interviews.
What was the impact of The Loving ACTion Podcast? Researchers surveyed 71 people and found:
Significant improvements in:
- Body esteem
- Self-compassion
- Psychological flexibility
Click to enlarge
Significant reductions in:
- Appearance-focused distress within romantic relationships
- Body image life disengagement
- Fear of negative appearance evaluation
- Internal shame
Researchers also spoke to 16 people to get more detail about their experiences of listening to the Podcast. They said:
“I think just listening to other people saying the same sort of similar things made me realise that it's not just me”
"It is just brilliant because it actually really, really helps. It just puts everything into perspective"
"I think my confidence has changed. I wouldn't say it's back, but it's certainly changed. It's going to take a long time for my confidence to come back fully if it ever will. But it's certainly more of a positive feeling."
What do the findings mean?
The Loving ACTion podcast appears to be effective at building self compassion, confidence, and facilitating personal growth whilst reducing appearance-related distress and shame for adults with visible differences.
How can you access the Loving ACTion podcast?
The Loving ACTion podcast can be accessed for free from The Visible Difference Support Hub: