Likening stairs in buildings to climbing a mountain: Self-reports of expected effects on stair climbing and objective measures of effectiveness Frank F. Eves a, * , Ellinor K. Olander a , Oliver J. Webb b , Carl Griffin c , Jacky Chambers c a School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK b School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK c Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust NHS, Birmingham, UK article info Article history: Received 8 December 2010 Received in revised form 10 October 2011 Accepted 1 November 2011 Available online 11 November 2011 Keywords: Stair climbing Worksite interventions Lifestyle physical activity Health promotion Mountain climbing campaign Self-report Objective measure Locomotion abstract Objectives: Health promotion agencies advocate use of mountain climbing goals to encourage regular stair climbing, a current public health target. This paper tests effects of a mountain climbing campaign on objective measures of stair use for the first time. Design: Field interview and quasi-experimental, interrupted time-series study. Method: In field interviews, a convenience sample (n ¼ 1350) responded to questions about different goals, i.e., heights of climb, to encourage stair use in buildings. Subsequently, a point-of-choice inter- vention with the main message ‘Take the stairs to the top of this building once a day and in a year, you would have climbed Mount Everest almost twice’ was tested in a 12-floor worksite. A no-message baseline was followed by installation of the intervention. Results: Stair ascent (n ¼ 62,716) and descent (n ¼ 61,218) at the ground floor was measured with automated counters at baseline (11 days) and during the intervention (18 days). The majority of inter- viewees (60%) chose a message based on climbing Mt. Everest as the most motivating, with only 5% of interviewees not motivated by any climbing goal. Nonetheless, the subsequent intervention using the mountain climbing goal had no effect on stair climbing (OR ¼ 0.96). As the campaign specifically targeted stair ascent, it failed to influence the behaviour with the greater public health dividend. Conclusion: The discrepancy between pre-testing and the campaign may reflect the fact that performance goals can only be achieved at the end of the task and may not be continually rewarded during accu- mulation of behaviour towards the goal. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Physical activity conveys a range of benefits, with proven effects on risks for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer (Department of Health, 2005, UK). Nonetheless, the populations of industrialised nations do not perform sufficient physical activity to accrue these benefits; it has been estimated that 52% and 68% of the populations in the US and UK are insufficiently active (Department of Health, 2005; Haskell et al., 2007). Current physical activity recommendations recommend a minimum of 30 min of at least moderate intensity physical activity on five or more days of the week. In addition, physical activity can be accumulated throughout the day (Department of Health, 2005; Haskell et al., 2007). Climbing the stairs rather than using the escalator or lift is one means of increasing lifestyle activity. Indeed, regular stair climbing can increase cardiovascular fitness, improve lipid profiles and reduce both body fat and the risk of osteoporosis (Boreham, Wallace, & Nevill, 2000; Boreham et al., 2005; Kerr, Eves, & Carroll, 2001a). These benefits reflect the fact that stair climbing is physiologically vigorous exercise, being more intense than jogging (8.6e9.6 METs: Bassett et al., 1997; Teh & Aziz, 2002). Recent approaches to physical activity promotion include a broader range of potential influences than traditionally studied intra-individual processes. Ecological frameworks consider how physical and social environments, in addition to individual factors, influence physical activity (Giles-Corti & Donovan, 2003; Saelens & Handy, 2008; Sallis et al., 2006; Sallis, Frank, Saelens, & Kraft, 2004). For example, proximity to utilitarian destinations and mixed usage of urban environments have been associated with walking (McCormack, Giles-Corti, & Bulsara, 2008; Saelens & Handy, 2008), as have supportive social partners (Giles-Corti & Donovan, 2003). Similarly, stair use has been related to the layout of the built envi- ronment (e.g., Eves, Olander, Nicoll, Puig Ribera, & Griffin, 2009) and the movement of pedestrians within it (Eves et al., 2009; Olander & Eves, 2011a; Webb, Eves, & Smith, 2011a). Interventions for stair climbing are an example of active environmental changes aiming to * Corresponding author. E-mail address: F.F.Eves@bham.ac.uk (F.F. Eves). Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Psychology of Sport and Exercise journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/psychsport 1469-0292/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2011.11.002 Psychology of Sport and Exercise 13 (2012) 170e176