Six-month observational study of prompted stair climbing

Background. Despite strong evidence that prompts at the point of choice bet ween escalators and stairs encourage stair use, the long-term effects of st air prompts have not yet been investigated. Presented here are the results of a 6-month observational study of prompted stair climbing. Methods. Escalator and adjacent stair use were monitored in a shopping mall in the Midlands region of the United Kingdom. Participants were coded for gender, age, and ethnicity, A 2-week baseline period was followed by a 12-w eek intervention using motivating messages on the stair risers. Follow-up d ata were also collected for 2 weeks immediately after the removal of the ba nners and 6 weeks later. Results. A total of 45,361 escalator/stair-choice observations were made. S tair use increased significantly during the intervention period and, when t he banners were removed, remained higher than at baseline. There were also significant interactions with time across the different population groups. Conclusions. The full public health benefits of increasing physical activit y levels can only be realized if the activity is sustained. These results d emonstrate that stair-riser banners can elicit a sustained increase in stai r use and, even when the banners were withdrawn, overall stair use remained higher than at baseline. (C) 2001 American Health Foundation and Academic Press.