Letter to the Editor: Getting Better Value out of Studies Examining Prompts for Stair Use

Interplay of Message Frame and Reference Point on Recycled Water Acceptance in Green Community: Evidence from an Eye-Tracking Experiment

Public rejection of recycled water hinders the application of recycled water use projects in green communities. An effective information outreach strategy could help to overcome this obstacle. This study used message frames and reference points as control variables to design experimental materials and conduct eye-movement experiments to determine the effect of different information promotion strategies. The results of the study show that: (1) compared with the loss frame, the gain-framed messages are more effective; (2) self-referencing messages are more suitable for recycled water use promotion than other-referencing messages; (3) message frame (gain vs. loss) and reference point (self vs. others) have an interactive effect on the public’s information cognitive behavior; (4) the average duration of fixations for advertising message plays an intermediary role in the path of message frame and reference point jointly influencing the public acceptance. This study provides managerial implications for determining information dissemination strategies for applying recycled water-use projects in green communities.

Does source credibility matter for point-of-decision prompts? A quasi-experimental field study to increase stair use

A quasi-experimental field study was undertaken to examine whether the source credibility of point-of-decision (POD) prompts would affect their effectiveness in increasing stair use. POD prompts attributed either to a more credible source, a less credible source, or nothing were randomly installed in three student halls of residence at a public university in Hong Kong (plus a control). The stair and elevator use of residents were recorded by view-from-top surveillance cameras and counted using motion-detection software, resulting in 14,189 observations. The findings show that all the POD prompts can yield, as hypothesized, a significant positive effect on stair use. The relative increase in stair use was 2.49% on average. However, contrary to our second hypothesis, the POD prompt attributed to the more credible source was not the most effective intervention. The implications of these findings are discussed in conclusion.

Beyond Posters: Stairtember-Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Multicomponent Intervention to Promote Stair Climbing

OBJECTIVE

Although stair climbing could contribute to daily physical activity goals, and there is potential for broad population reach, most stair climbing interventions are single-component and have limited effect.

METHODS

In a longitudinal quasiexperimental study, a 1-month multicomponent intervention, followed by 6 months with point-of-choice prompts, was evaluated in a six-story university building. All floors climbed and lifts ascended were measured by infrared people counters. Regular building occupants were invited to participate in the Stairtember Challenge intervention component.

RESULTS

During the intervention, stair climbing increased by 15%. Stair to lift ratios increased from 0.46 to 0.56 (odds ratio 1.22; 95% confidence interval 1.18 to 1.27).

CONCLUSIONS

The multicomponent stair climbing intervention achieved a moderate increase in average daily stair climbing and stair to lift ratio. As these effects are larger than previously found for traditional signage-based interventions, future interventions should go beyond posters for larger effects on population health.

Examining the relationships between walkability and physical activity among older persons: what about stairs?

BACKGROUND

Walkability is considered an important dimension of healthy communities. However, variable associations between measures of walkability and physical activity have been observed, particularly among older persons. Given the challenges older persons may have navigating stairs on walking routes, the presence of stairs may be an explanatory factor for these mixed associations. The purposes of this scoping review were to determine whether studies examining the relationship between walkability and physical activity included items that assessed stairs and what relationships were found.

METHODS

Systematic reviews were identified by entering search terms into five database search engines. Eligibility criteria were: a) published between 2008 and 2017, b) examined the relationship between walkability and physical activity, c) included a focus on persons aged 65 years and older, and d) written in English. The full articles for all primary studies included in eligible systematic reviews were then retrieved. Duplicates were removed. Information about where the study took place, walkability measures used, types of walkability data obtained (objective and/or subjective) and questions asked about stairs were extracted from the full text articles.

RESULTS

Eleven systematic reviews were identified; seven were eligible. After removing duplicates, 289 primary studies remained for review. Measures of neighborhood walkability were present in 205 studies; a minority (n = 5, 2.4%) included items about stairs. No information was obtained on the structural features of the stairs.

CONCLUSIONS

The presence of stairs may deter older persons (and others) from walking outdoors. Standard measures to document the presence and characteristics of stairs, and sampling approaches to select stairs for assessment are needed. The inclusion of these measures would augment the utility and comparability of studies examining relationships between walkability and physical activity and better inform planning and policy decisions.