Examining the effects of a health promotion intervention on the use of stairs

Using stairs is one way to increase daily physical activity and reduce cardiovascular risk. Multiple studies have found that individuals' use of stairs can be impacted by signage, point of decision prompts, and education. Poisson regression was used to examine the effect of interventions on stair usage at several time intervals. Despite previous compelling research and an initial spike in stair usage, there was not enough evidence to state whether the interventions impacted long term stair usage. Although this study did not find a significant change over time, participants enthusiastically participated during the intervention period. It is hoped that participants gained a greater awareness of the small lifestyle choices that can lead to improved health and will choose the stairs more often.