Promoting Stair Use is Possible by Displaying Signs, Even for Stairs of 80 or 105 Steps

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Behavioral Science
• Environmental Psychology

Background:

• Signage is a known intervention to encourage stair use over escalators.
• Previous studies indicated diminishing effectiveness of signage with increasing stair height, with no effect observed at 44 steps.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if stair use promotion is feasible for taller staircases (80 and 105 steps) by providing specific health benefit information.
• To assess the impact of signage communicating the health benefits of stair use on pedestrian choices.

Main Methods:

• Two universities with parallel escalators and stairs (80 and 105 steps) were selected for the study.
• Signs stating "Going up one flight of stairs increases your life span by 4 seconds" were displayed for one week.
• Observations of stair and escalator usage were recorded across different demographic groups (students, faculty/staff) during morning hours.

Main Results:

• Sign installation significantly increased stair use at both universities (University A: OR 1.513, University B: OR 1.221).
• The intervention did not significantly alter stair use among individuals who already exhibited high rates of stair usage, suggesting a ceiling effect.
• A total of 50,842 observations were recorded, with 1,983 individuals using the stairs during the intervention period.

Conclusions:

• Communicating specific health benefits via signage is an effective strategy to promote stair use, even for staircases with 80 or 105 steps.
• The effectiveness of such signage may be limited by a ceiling effect, particularly in populations with pre-existing high stair usage.
• This study highlights the potential of tailored informational interventions to influence health-related behaviors in built environments.