Summary of the Research

• Individual Study Results
• Research Gaps
• References

Magnitude of Change

Most studies found statistically significant increases in stair use. In many cases, this was starting from a small base. In high-use situations like shopping mall and airport escalators however, an increase of 3-4 percentage points in the number of people using stairs can translate into thousands of people.

As will be discussed below under research gaps, there are still questions about the duration of change.

Factors Affecting Stair Use:

Personal Factors

Factors Affecting Stair Use:

Sex:

• Mixed results in baseline use
• Some tendency for women to use stairs less at baseline
• Some tendency for women to increase most in response to intervention

Age:

• Mixed results in baseline use
• Some tendency for older people to use stairs less at baseline
• Little difference between older and younger people in response to intervention

Weight Status:

• Overweight people less likely to use the stairs at baseline
• No major difference in response to intervention
• Some indication overweight may respond better to weight control messages

Present Fitness/ Activity Level:

• This was examined in only one study
• More active people were more likely to use the stairs initially
• Less active people were slightly more likely to increase use
• Precontemplators were less likely to "notice signs" and change

Setting:

• Baseline level of stair use varies substantially in different environments
• Least likely in airports and bus terminals, more in shopping malls
• Libraries and offices may have higher use
• Lower floor occupants more likely to use
• People say they are willing to climb up to 3 1/2 flights (one study)

Music, Lighting, Artwork:

• good lighting is a positive influence
• artwork is an incentive
• music is an incentive
• locked stairwells are a deterrent

Location of Messages:

• Placing banners on stair risers was more effective than signs (one study)

Content of Messages:

• Promotion versus deterrent: Both seem effective. (The deterrent messages were mainly messages trying to restrict elevator use to persons with disabilities or staff, rather than negative health messages.)
• Health versus weight-control: One study found that the weight-control message added a few percentage points of change and was effective with overweight persons
• Family versus individual: One study in the hispanic community in the Southwestern U.S.. found that a family message was no more effective than an individual message.

The following table summarizes the overall results from the studies

Authors /Year	Setting	Main Result	Subgroup Results	Environ- mental Factors
Brownell, Stunkard and Albaum, 1980	shopping mall, train station, bus terminal	From 6% to 14% using stairs	-men, young, non-obese, more likely to use stairs at baseline.-all groups increased	-baseline use higher in mall than train or bus station-use increased more at mall
Blamey, Mutrie and Aitchison, 1995	subway station	From 8% to 15-17% using stairs	-men more likely to use at baseline-both sexes increased	N.A.
Anderson, Franckowiak, Snyder, Bartlett and Fontaine (1998)	shopping mall	From 4.8%, to 6.9% using stairs with the health sign and to 7.2% with the weight control sign	-older, women, non-obese, higher at baseline-older, overweight responded most. overweight to weight control sign	N.A.
Russell, Dzewaltowski and Ryan, (1999)	university library	from 6.3 % to 14.4% using stairs	-under 30 men most likely to use stairs at baseline-all groups except older women increased use	-stair use more frequent Monday-Thursday, less on Friday
Russell and Hutchinson, (2000)	regional airport	from 8.2% using stairs to 14.9% with health promotion sign and 14.4% with deterrent sign	-younger women, younger men most likely at baseline-older men and younger women increased most	N.A.
Kerr, Eves and Carroll (2000, 2001a, 2001b)	shopping mall accountants' office	"significant increase"no sig. increase in ascendingsig. increase in descending	-younger men more likely to use stairs at baseline-all groups increased, women most	-stair banner risers more effective than signs-at workplace, stair height had significant impact-those on lower floors more willing to take stairs
Titze, Martin, Seiler and Marti, 2001	government office building	from 61.8% to 71.4% using stairs	-women more likely to use stairs	-bright stairwell, small number of steps increase use
Boutelle, Jeffery, Murray and Schmitz , 2001	university office building	from 11.1% to 12.7% (signs) and 15.5% with music/art	-women more likely to use stairs	-artwork and music add to effect of signs
Coleman and Gonzales, 2001	airport, bank, office building, university library	from 6 % to 9 % using stairs	-women's stair use increased at more sites, persisted longer	-use highest at library, office, lowest at airport and bank