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Abstract

Purpose:

Evaluate the incremental impact of environmental stairwell enhancements on stair usage in addition to prompts.

Design:

Phased, nonrandomized, quasi-experimental intervention.

Setting:

Two 6-story and one 8-story municipal government office buildings—each with 2 stairwells.

Participants:

Approximately 2800 municipal employees and 1000 daily visitors.

Intervention:

All stairwells received door wraps and point-of-decision and wayfinding prompts. Environmental enhancements were installed in 1 stairwell in each of the 2 buildings: wall paint, upgraded stair treads and handrails, artwork, light-emitting diode (LED) lighting, fire-rated glass doors, and removal of security locks on at least the ground floor.

Measures:

Staff surveys and focus groups, electronic and direct measures of stair and elevator use occurred at baseline and over 3 years of phased implementation and follow-up.

Analysis:

Change in the proportion of vertical movement by stairs using χ² analysis.

Results:

The prompts were associated with a significant increase in stair use (odds ratio [OR] = 1.36; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.31-1.41), with an average absolute increase of 3.2%. Environmental enhancements were associated with an additional significant increase in stair use (OR = 1.31; 95% CI: 1.25-1.37) beyond prompts alone with an average absolute increase of a further 3.5% that was sustained for 1 year. The initial increases in stair use with prompts alone were not sustained.

Conclusion:

Implementing environmental stairwell enhancements in office buildings increased stair usage in a sustained manner beyond that achieved by prompts alone.

Keywords

physical activity point-of-decision prompts stair-use interventions worksites facility design and construction

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A Multicomponent Intervention to Encourage Stair Use in Municipal Buildings