Miranda Thurston

Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences · Department of Public Health

Introduction: Physical inactivity is a global health challenge, exacerbated by increased screen time and sedentary behaviors. Enhancing physical activity levels at schools offers a promising approach to promote lifelong healthy habits. Methods: This protocol paper outlines the MOVE12 pilot study, a 12-week intervention study designed to increase ph...

Purpose: A settings-based approach to health promotion emphasizes everyday environments in shaping health. Prisons are, therefore, potentially important arenas for health promotion. However, the inherent restriction of prisoner agency presents a fundamental challenge in this regard. There is a gap in qualitative research on prisoners' perspectives...

Keywords: Physically active learning Primary school-based physical activity Classroom-based physical activity Movement integration Movement-centred pedagogy A B S T R A C T The growing interest in Physically Active Learning (PAL) (e.g. in practice and research) warrants exploration of multi-stakeholders' perceptions, understandings, and enactment o...

Exploring the putative role of nature in human well-being has typically been operationalized and measured within a quantitative paradigm of research. However, such approaches are limited in the extent to which they can capture the full range of how natural experiences support well-being. The aim of the study was to explore personal experiences in n...

Background Research suggests that the mental health of adolescents is less than optimal. Physical activity (PA) has been positively associated with mental health, while the relationships with sedentary behaviour (SED) has shown negative associations. Previous studies have methodological limitations related to study design and instruments used to me...

Prisons have been described as important settings for health promotion. Health promotion, in which empowerment is a key process, is challenging in prisons since inmates’ individual choice and control is constrained. Empowerment through increased individual choice and control regarding food could be one way to promote health in prison. The aim of th...

Continuing professional development (CPD) programs have been suggested as a way of supporting teachers’ use of physically active learning (PAL) to enhance pupils’ learning. Drawing on Dewey’s theory of ‘education as growth’ (1916), this qualitative study explored teachers’ perceptions of their practice after participating in a CPD program in PAL. F...

While physically active learning has been positioned as a research field that deals with physical activity and learning, little attention has been given to pedagogy. This study aimed to explore teachers as constitutive of the teaching-learning process and conceptualise pedagogical aspects of physically active learning by understanding its enactment...

Assessment has become a routine feature of school life, internationally. Little is known, however, about the consequences for young people of assessment and grading in physical education (PE) – a subject often associated with physical recreation. This paper explores young Norwegian’s perceptions of assessment and grading in PE from a sociological p...

In this paper we explore how 15–16-year-old Norwegians experience social and cultural norms that shape their relationship with health and physical activity (PA) in a country where participation in PA is normative, in the sense that it is not only a widely shared practice but, in having significant cultural traction, is commonly understood as a ‘nor...

This paper explores teachers' educational values and how they shape their judgements about physically active learning (PAL). Twenty one teachers from four primary schools in Norway participated in focus groups. By conceptualising PAL as a didaktikk approach, the findings indicated that teachers engaged with PAL in a way that reflected their profess...

Use of coercion on people with mental illness is a deeply embedded practice around the world. Not only does the practice raise human rights issues, it also leads to further mental, physical, and emotional harms. In Indonesia, 'pasung' is a common practice of physical restraint, which involves lay people using a variety of illegal methods to tie a p...

In the context of the contemporary emphasis on the school’s role in supporting student wellbeing, this qualitative study explored the teachers’ experience of a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme, which focused on enhancing teachers’ emotional awareness within the context of everyday life. An implicit assumption in this approach is...

Keywords: Physically active learning School-based physical activity Classroom-based physical activity Pedagogy Teacher agency a b s t r a c t The adoption of physically active learning (PAL) in schools is becoming more widespread. To understand how PAL is being used in different countries and explore if and how methods and strategies differ, this p...

Background Mental health among young people in many countries, including Norway, seems to be deteriorating. Physical activity (PA) has been positively associated with mental health. However, methodological issues related to study design and measurement of PA and mental health outcomes currently limits our understanding of the relationship. The purp...

Food environments are directly linked to diets and health outcomes such as overweight, obesity, and noncommunicable diseases. The digitalization of food environments is becoming a central issue in public health, yet little is known about this emerging field. We performed a systematic scoping review to map the research on the digital food environmen...

Over the past few decades, some scholars have labeled sugar “toxic” and portrayed it as the primary cause of diet-related health conditions. In this paper, this sugar as toxic rhetoric – which is widely echoed in the public sphere – is critically examined in terms of its physiological basis and wider social consequences. We argue that the claims of...

Regular physical activity (PA) has been associated with academic achievement, but the evidence is mainly based on cross-sectional research and self-reported measures of PA. The purpose of the current study was to explore the longitudinal relationship between objectively measured PA and academic achievement among a cohort of adolescents in Norway be...

Little is known about the role of teachers in fostering wellbeing in the everyday context of school life. This paper explores the phenomenon among a sample of Norwegian teachers. Focus groups with 23 teachers in four schools (grades 1–10) in Norway were conducted. In the analysis of the findings three themes were developed: 1) fostering student wel...

In an era of sustained budget cuts, England’s local authorities are increasingly forced to ‘apply’ for infrastructure funding via competitive bidding processes. However, we currently know little about how this method of funding impacts implementation. Accordingly, we consider the consequences of competitive funding by exploring the constraints asso...

Eric Dunning and Norbert Elias began developing their concept ‘quest for excitement’ in the 1960s. In this paper we consider the concept in the context of their work on the civilizing process and leisure in the spare-time spectrum, applying it to an analysis of the global diffusion and transformation of yoga. In so doing, we develop a preliminary t...

In the past decade or more, improving young people’s mental health has been identified as a priority for policy-makers in many countries, including Norway. Physical education, as a setting for physical activity, is increasingly viewed as having a potentially significant role to play in addressing mental health among the young. This paper reports th...

This paper explores public health policy implementation through partnership working at the local level by examining how local actors from public health, and the wider workforce make sense of and work on social inequalities in health. An ethnographic case study was used to examine policy implementation in one local strategic partnership in north-wes...

Introduction Food environments are the interface through which people interact with the broader food system. They are a key determinant of healthy and sustainable diets. The widespread use of digital technology in late modernity and the shift towards a digital society have posed new challenges for nutrition and health, with a concomitant surge in r...

Background The purpose of this study was to describe associations between physical activity (PA), mental health and academic achievement in a Norwegian adolescent cohort. Methods In total, 1001 adolescents were invited to participate, of whom 599 (54.4% female, mean age ± SD 13.3 ± 0.3y) entered the study. PA was measured objectively using acceler...

Mass participation sporting events (MPSEs) are viewed as encouraging regular exercise in the population, but concerns have been expressed about the extent to which they are inclusive for women. This study focuses on an iconic cross-country skiing MPSE in Norway, the Birkebeiner race (BR), which includes different variants (main, Friday, half-distan...

This paper presents the findings from a qualitative study conducted in two lower secondary schools in Norway that explored pupils’ perceptions of how teachers supported their mental health through their everyday practices. Focus groups with 26 pupils aged 14–15 years old were carried out. Data were analyzed thematically, revealing four main themes:...

Improving young people’s mental health has become a priority for policy-makers in Norway as elsewhere. Although the evidence is limited, physical activity has been identified as having a role in mental health promotion with school physical education (PE) typically being presented as a suitable setting. Few studies, however, have explored young peop...

Aims: The aim of this work was to examine psychological distress among Norwegian adolescents in relation to changes over time and the associations with leisure time physical activity and screen-based sedentary behaviour. Methods: This cross-sectional study was based on data retrieved from the Norwegian Youth Health Surveys in 2001 and 2009 in He...

In this prospective study, the association between physical activity and subsequent use of antidepressant and hypnotic drug use in adolescents aged 15–16 years was examined. This study is based on information retrieved from the Norwegian Youth Health Surveys (2000–2003) and linked to prescription data from the Norwegian Prescription Database (2004–...

A qualitative study conducted in four lower secondary schools in Norway explored teachers’ and school principals’ experiences of collaboration with a variety of extended services (ES). Particular attention was directed to the ways (if any) they perceived collaboration to be relevant to helping teachers support pupils with mental health problems thr...

Background The purpose was to analyse the association between physical activity taking place in different contexts (sports club, gym, exercise independently and other organized physical activities) and symptoms of depression. Methods The study was based on self-reported cross-sectional data from the Ungdata survey, conducted in 2017 by the Norwegi...

By combining physical activity and exposure to nature, green exercise can provide additional health benefits compared to physical activity alone. Immersive Virtual Environments (IVE) have emerged as a potentially valuable supplement to environmental and behavioral research, and might also provide new approaches to green exercise promotion. However,...

This study aimed to explore teachers’ and head teachers’ understandings of how they work to support pupils’ mental health through their everyday practices. A qualitative study, including individual interviews with head teachers and focus groups with teachers, was conducted in lower secondary schools in Norway. Rich descriptions of teachers’ and hea...

The past two decades have seen an increasing role for the UK community and voluntary sector (CVS) in health promotion in disadvantaged areas, largely based on assumptions on the part of funders that CVS providers are better able to engage ‘hard-to-reach’ population groups in services than statutory providers. However, there is limited empirical res...

Introduction: Inclusion in sports, especially with respect to groups that tend to be the least active (e.g. elderly, ethnic minorities, low socioeconomic status) is viewed as a key strategy for improving population health. Mass-participation sporting events have been increasingly viewed as an arena for inclusion and exercise promotion. However, the...

This paper reports on the patterns of participation in organised sports of youngsters coming towards the end of primary school, with a view to identifying emergent sporting habits in relation to social class gradients. The data for the study were generated via 90 semi-structured interviews with parents and children from 62 families. The data reveal...

The emergence of the idea of the New Public Health in recent years has provided a powerful focus for integrating action on contemporary health issues. It has also provided a stimulus for rethinking ways of working, with an emphasis on public engagement and empowerment, multidisciplinary and partnership working, and an ecological view of the city –...

Background: A growing body of evidence suggests that childhood overweight may have its roots in early life. This study aimed to explore patterns of weight in children from birth to 40 months, born between 1994 and 2006, in Halton, Northwest England. Methods: Halton infants were compared with the UK-90 reference population at four time points (bi...

The individualization of health has been extensively discussed in the last few decades. Empirical work, however, has mainly had its origins within neoliberal societies. Norway, as a social democratic welfare state based on universal social rights and egalitarianism is thus of interest in understanding how people’s talk reflects national policies. T...

Based primarily on quantitative data from the Norwegian Statistisk Sentralbyrå (Statistics Norway) study of Mosjon, Friluftsliv og Kulturaktiviteter, this paper explores sports participation among females - and girls and young women, in particular - in Norway in the early years of the twenty-first century. In line with the observation that sport ca...

Background Prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased in adult and child populations in many countries. Childhood overweight has become a major public health issue. The development of overweight in children may have roots in very early life: the importance of understanding early influences on overweight has been emphasised. Weaning, the i...

This paper explores Norwegian youngsters’ (and, to a lesser extent, adults’) engagement with conventional and lifestyle sports via an examination of recent trends. In the process, it explores the significance or otherwise of ‘nature-based settings’ and the developing character of lifestyle sports. In terms of changes in youth sport, young Norwegian...

Despite an extensive evidence-base linking patterns of health with social determinants, recent public health policy has emphasized 'lifestyle diseases' and risk factor modification through behavioural and pharmacological intervention. In England, one manifestation of this has been the launch of the National Health Service Health Check programme. Th...

‘The growth of public health courses aimed at undergraduates has created a new need for textbooks that are appropriate and stimulating. Miranda Thurston has succeeded in producing something which strikes the right note. It is wide ranging in scope without being superficial and is accessible to the young learner. It is a sort of ‘Wiki’. Just what th...

Area-based initiatives have formed an important part of public policy towards more socio-economically deprived areas in many countries. Co-ordinating service provision within and across sectors has been a common feature of these initiatives. Despite sustained policy interest in area-based initiatives, little empirical work has explored relations be...

http://hdl.handle.net/11250/219195

Background Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption is a goal for the UK. Therefore, the effectiveness of a fruit and vegetable voucher scheme coupled with key five-a-day' consumption messages as a brief intervention in primary care consultations was assessed in the present study. Methods One thousand one hundred and eighty-eight vouchers as a pr...

Based on quantitative data from the Norwegian Statistisk Sentralbyrå (Statistics Norway) study of Mosjon, Friluftsliv og Kulturaktiviteter, this paper explores trends in Norwegians' participation in sports, with a focus on young people. Norway boasts particularly high levels of sports participation as well as sports club membership and young Norweg...

Background Deaths and injuries related to fires are largely preventable events. In the UK, a plethora of community-based fire safety initiatives have been introduced over the last 25 years, often led by fire and rescue services, to address this issue. This paper focuses on one such initiative-home safety assessments (HSAs). Cheshire Fire and Rescue...

This paper explores normalised drug use as an aspect of young people's leisure careers. Qualitative data generated by 24 single-sex focus groups with 153 (85 males; 68 females) 15–16-year-olds attending seven schools in north-west England and north-east Wales revealed that young people's drug use tended to be both heterogeneous and situation specif...

Drink a Little Less, See a Better You: the NHS Health Check and Wind Down initiative is a social marketing campaign designed to reduce alcohol harm in the target group - men between the ages of 35-55 years - in the pub setting. In order to understand the impact of this initiative, the Cheshire and Merseyside Public Health Network commissioned the C...

The BUFFALO project (Burnley Food and Fitness Aimed at Lowering Obesity) is a children’s obesity prevention project targeting Year 5 (9 to 10 year old) pupils in primary schools in Burnley. It is co-ordinated and delivered by Burnley Borough Council in partnership with East Lancashire Primary Care Trust. The BUFFALO project involves curriculum inpu...

This report is an interim report for the evaluation of a community weight management programme, Step by Step. Western Cheshire PCT commissioned the University of Chester to evaluate the programme. The overall aim of the evaluation was to reveal the elements of the service that are most likely to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the prog...

The Cheshire and Merseyside Public Health Network conducts a programme of continuing professional development through the year. The Centre for Public Health Research was commissioned to carry out an evaluation of the 2009 continuing professional development programme. Cheshire and Merseyside Public Health Network

Within the substantial body of research examining the professional knowledge of physical education (PE) teachers one particular area remains relatively under-explored: namely, their understandings of young people's participation in leisure-sport and the implications of this, if any, for the practice of PE. There are grounds for thinking, however, t...

This paper draws on data from a broader study, the central object of which was to explore the place of sport and physical activity in young people's lives. More particularly, the paper reports the findings of 24 focus groups conducted with 153 15–16 year olds in north-west England and north-east Wales in order to examine young people's views toward...

This paper reports on the perspectives of elite athletes on anti-doping work in general and on the whereabouts system in particular, and uses a figurational perspective to explore the unintended consequences of the planned introduction of the whereabouts system. A cross-sectional survey of all the athletes in the Norwegian registered testing pool (...

Nurses have always had an important role in the care of cancer patients and many specific nursing roles in cancer services have been developed. A qualitative research strategy using semi-structured interviews was adopted in this case-study of the implementation of a primary care cancer nurse (PCCN) role in a general practice. The implementation of...

Informed by interviews conducted with members of a local research ethics committee (REC), this article reflects upon how RECs can act to improve the quality of patient consent to clinical trials. Two emergent narratives which trial participants have drawn upon to account for their experiences are explored: the narrative of the clinical trial itself...

Time for Me describes a creative arts group for mothers with children under two years of age, who were experiencing mild to moderate postnatal depression or anxiety. This paper reports on findings from a small-scale qualitative study designed to explore and evaluate the extent to which the brief intervention of eight weekly sessions of creative art...

In the UK, young people have been identified as a specific group who experience poor sexual health and there is scope for improving this if sexual health services are sensitive and relevant to their needs. This paper reports on the work of two services which were set up specifically for young people, exploring whether the model of service provision...

This small-scale study was designed to explore the use and experiences of front-line health services within the Western Cheshire Primary Care Trust area amongst residents belonging to black and minority ethnic groups. A qualitative approach was adopted for the study as the aim was to explore perceptions and capture experiences.

Monitoring and evaluation is a significant and obligatory element of Children’s Fund projects nationwide, with statutory returns made to the Department for Children, Schools and Families. The aim of the additional monitoring work commissioned by Cheshire Children’s Fund and carried out by the Centre for Public Health Research was to provide a more...

A three year evaluation was built into the RESPECT bid in order that the individual, community and societal benefits of the programme could be quantified and evidenced. This report is part of the outcomes evaluation. Its focus is to explore and evidence the short and medium term impact of the Option One courses upon the young people who were alloca...

This report discusses RESPECT - an scheme funded for three years by the government's Invest to Save initiative which offers targeted intervention for 11 to 16 year olds who are disaffected and/or displaying anti-social behaviour with the aim of re-motivating them. The impact of option two (led by Youth Federation) on programme attendees between May...

The Children’s Fund was created in 2000 as part of the Government’s commitment to tackle disadvantage amongst children and young people. The aim of the Fund was to facilitate the development of more extensive and better co-ordinated early intervention services for children and young people aged 5 to 13 years who were at risk of social exclusion. Ch...

This paper examines the levels and forms of participation in extracurricular physical education (PE) of a cohort of 1010 15—16 year olds attending seven state schools in north-west England and north-east Wales. The data reveal that extracurricular PE provision in all schools retained a particular focus on competitive team sports alongside a number...

Drawing on data from a broader study which investigated the place of spor t and physical activity in the lives of 15—16 year olds in England and Wales, this paper examines a relatively neglected dimension of research in physical education, namely, young people's par ticipation in spor t and physical activity through National Curriculum Physical Edu...

This paper presents a model of service process for a family support service at the preventative level as part of a wider debate about child welfare systems in the UK and beyond. The paper places the debate about the shape of preventative family support services within the policy context and uses it to critique various models of service provision, p...

Background and aims The school has consistently been identified as a key setting in which to improve both health and educational outcomes for children and young people. The aims of the Government’s National Healthy School Programme imply that schools, by achieving healthy school status, can contribute to outcomes relating to health, educational att...

This report is available through the Chester Digital Repository. This project report discusses the development of a system that identified individual service users from a selected number of Cheshire Children's Fund services chosen to provide electronic data to allow detailed analysis. The majority of services asked to provide electronic data return...

This article discusses the issue of engagement in antenatal parent education for women living in deprived areas. The article focuses on the findings of a local evaluation of a Sure Start parent education programme designed to improve parental engagement with antenatal services. The article discusses the re-orientation of this service, the impact on...