Messages to promote physical activity: Are descriptors of required duration and intensity related to intentions to be more active?

Introduction: Mass-media campaigns such as, "Change4Life' in the UK and "get active America" in the US, promote physical activity (PA) recommendations of at least 150 min/week of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA). We investigated whether different messages used in MVPA campaigns were associated with intention to engage in more MVPA.

Materials And Methods: Theory of planned behavior (TPB) constructs; subjective norms, affective attitudes, instrumental attitudes and perceived behavioral control (PBC) were applied to explain the associations between campaign messages and intentions to engage in more MVPA.

Using threshold messages to promote physical activity: implications for public perceptions of health effects.

Background: The promotion of physical activity (PA) guidelines to the general public is an important issue that lacks empirical investigation. PA campaigns often feature participation thresholds that cite PA guidelines verbatim [e.g.

A multi-component stair climbing promotional campaign targeting calorific expenditure for worksites; a quasi-experimental study testing effects on behaviour, attitude and intention.

Background: Accumulation of lifestyle physical activity is a current aim of health promotion, with increased stair climbing one public health target. While the workplace provides an opportunity for regular stair climbing, evidence for effectiveness of point-of-choice interventions is equivocal. This paper reports a new approach to worksite interventions, aimed at changing attitudes and, hence, behaviour.

Promoting stair climbing in public-access settings: an audit of intervention opportunities in England.

Objective: Introducing message prompts at the 'point-of-choice' (POC) between stairs and escalators increases stair choice in 'public-access' settings (e.g. malls).

A statistical summary of mall-based stair-climbing interventions.

Background: Stair climbing is an accessible activity with proven health benefits. This article summarizes the effectiveness of mall-based stair-climbing interventions, while controlling for, and examining, potential moderators of stair/escalator choice.

Methods: Six comparable studies were identified, which used poster/ banner prompts to promote stair choice.

Investigating behavioural mimicry in the context of stair/escalator choice.

Objectives: We investigated whether individuals mimic the stair/escalator choices of preceding pedestrians. Our methodology sought to separate cases where the 'model' and 'follower' were acquaintances or strangers.

Design: Natural experiment.

Promoting physical activity in a low socioeconomic area: results from an intervention targeting stair climbing.

Objective: To compare rates of stair climbing in a high and low socioeconomic (SE) area, and to assess the efficacy of a stair climbing intervention in each area.

Methods: From March to May 2009 ascending stair/escalator choices (N=20,315) were observed in two underground train stations located in a high, and low, SE area of Glasgow. Baseline observations preceded a 4-week intervention in which posters, promoting stair choice, were installed.

An informational stair climbing intervention with greater effects in overweight pedestrians.

Previous interventions have successfully increased levels of stair climbing in public-access settings (e.g. malls).

Promoting stair climbing: intervention effects generalize to a subsequent stair ascent.

Purpose: Studies report a significant increase in stair use when message prompts are introduced at the "point of choice" between stairs and escalators. Climbing one set of stairs, however, will not confer meaningful health dividends. Therefore, this study examined whether exposure to point of choice prompts also encouraged individuals to climb the next set of stairs that they encountered.

Effects of environmental changes in a stair climbing intervention: generalization to stair descent.

Purpose: Visual improvements have been shown to encourage stair use in worksites independently of written prompts. This study examined whether visual modifications alone can influence behavior in a shopping mall. Climbing one flight of stairs, however, will not confer health benefits.

A workplace intervention to promote stair climbing: greater effects in the overweight.

Objective: Stair climbing is a lifestyle physical activity that uses more calories per minute than jogging. This study tested an intervention designed to promote stair climbing in a workplace. Because previous studies provide only equivocal evidence of the effects of increased stair climbing in worksites, a formal comparison of the effects of the intervention on stair ascent and descent was made.

Promoting stair climbing: effects of message specificity and validation.

Current exercise guidelines encourage the daily accumulation of lifestyle activities, such as stair climbing. Although several studies show that visual prompts can increase stair usage, there has been little systematic assessment of the messages employed. Some of the messages used in previous interventions represent general descriptions of stair climbing (e.

Worksite interventions to increase stair climbing; reasons for caution.

Point-of-choice prompts to use the stairs rather than the escalator consistently increase physical activity at public access staircases such as those in shopping malls. More recently, exercise promoters have targeted stair climbing in the worksite. A review of interventions in worksites reveals little hard evidence of successful increases in stair climbing, though the increases in stair usage are encouraging.

Promoting stair use: single versus multiple stair-riser messages.

Message banners attached to stair risers produced a significant increase in pedestrian stair use, exceeding effects previously reported for conventional posters. Multiple instances of the same message banner, however, were as effective as banners featuring different messages. Therefore, greater visibility, rather than message variety, appears to account for the superiority of the banner format.