Summary: 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 environment and investigate how the eight dimensions of the food environment, according to an established framework (availability, prices, vendor and product properties, marketing and regulation, accessibility, affordability, convenience, and desirability), might be shifting in the context of a digital society. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, and Web of Science for studies published between 2000 and 2019, using search terms covering digital technology and food environment, which yielded 13,580 unique records. Our analysis of 357 studies shows that digitalization is taking place in all dimensions of the food environment, and enabling the emergence of new forms of buying and selling food, such as online grocery shopping and online food delivery, which may be changing availability of foods and affecting the physical distance to shops and time allocated for shopping. Systematic reviews identified indicated that digital food marketing and social media can influence food choices, preferences and consumption. Our findings suggest that digital and physical food environments are interconnected and influencing one another, but the impact of the digital on health and nutrition is yet unclear.

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. The study was based on self-reported cross-sectional data from the Ungdata survey, conducted in 2017 by the Norwegian Social Research (NOVA) institute in cooperation with regional centres for drug rehabilitation. The target group comprised 5531 15–16 years old adolescents (Grade 10 students) and 11,655 students in grades 8 and 9 in Norway. Based on Rasch analysis, six items on depressions symptoms were used to create a composite measure of depression. Binomial logistic regression was used to analyse the association between physical activities in different contexts and symptoms of depression. In the crude model, the odds for symptoms of depression were lower for those who were physically active in a sports club (OR: 0.40, 95% CI: 0.30–0.53), in a sports club and gym (OR: 0.40, 95% CI: 0.28–0.56), in a sports club and exercise or keep fit independently (OR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.38–0.72) and in a sports club, gym and exercise or keep fit independently (OR: 0.58, 95% CI: 0.41–0.81). After adjustment for potential confounders, the association became significant only for those who were physically active in a sports club (OR: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.40–0.81) and other organized physical activities, e.g. dance, martial arts (OR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.31–0.86). Analysis for grade 8 and 9 showed the same patterns for the associations between sports club and symptoms of depression (grade 8: crude model, OR: 0.47, adjusted model, OR: 0.63, grade 9: crude model, OR: 0.44, adjusted model, OR: 0.49). Physical activity in a sports club was associated with significantly lower odds for symptoms of depression, suggesting a possible role for social interaction in addition to physical activity per se. It is important, therefore, to consider in which types of contexts physical activities take place, not only focusing on physical activity frequency and volume when investigating the association between adolescents’ physical activity and mental health. Additional research is needed to further explore these associations as well as measures of physical activity and mental health.

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 people’s perceptions and experiences of PE and the possible consequences for their mental health – the departure point for this paper. We approach this issue sociologically by focusing on the processes through which PE is enacted. Qualitative data were generated by 31 focus groups involving 148 youngsters from the 10th grade (15–16-year-olds) in eight secondary schools in Norway. The overarching theme to emerge was that PE was valued by the students for what it was not as much as what it was. The appeal of PE often lay in being different and a break from ‘normal’ school lessons and, at the same time, an opportunity for informal social interaction and strengthening social bonds. Enjoyment of PE – even among those with limited sporting competence – was understood as giving rise to cathartic benefits and an antidote to their increasingly academic, routinized and performance-oriented school lives. However, processes relating to the organization, delivery and assessment of lessons meant that these benefits were sometimes compromised for some young people. We conclude that as far as the mental health of young people is concerned, the best justificatory defence for PE becomes physical recreation as a solution to (academic) schooling rather than PE as education.

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 through their everyday social and pedagogic practices. Findings of the study indicated that teachers valued initiatives that could help develop mutual understandings of teachers’ and ES professionals’ roles and responsibilities. Initiatives to build inter-professional relationships were perceived as laying the foundation for more productive collaboration. However, to be able to provide coherent, sustained support in the classroom, teachers needed guidance from ES professionals. This required a shift in collaborative processes away from a focus on individualized pupil support towards helping teachers support pupils through their classroom-based social and pedagogical practices. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.