Biomedical subjects

Oliver J Webb

Publications and source records attributed to Oliver J Webb.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

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.g. 'free exercise'), while others emphasize specific consequences of stair use (e.g. 'keeps you fit'). Twelve hundred structured interviews were conducted in order to establish which type of message is more persuasive. In addition, half of the interviewees were told that the messages were true, in order to assess how validating messages may influence their persuasive appeal. Results suggest that messages focussing on specific consequences are more persuasive than those providing general descriptions and that validating the information presented in stair-climbing interventions may increase their efficacy. Previous messages may not, therefore, have demonstrated the full potential of stair climbing as a model for increasing population activity levels.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

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. The contrast between the worksites and public access staircases, however, is not simply one of location. In a worksite, the choice is between the stairs and an elevator rather than an escalator. We reason that the availability of the elevator or the stairwell may be the major immediate determinant of stair climbing in worksites and dilute any possible effects of an intervention.

Choice Behavior↗

PubMed2006

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. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: In a five-story public sector building, a 2-week baseline was followed by 6 weeks of an intervention involving a 23(1/2)- x 16(1/2)-inch poster in the lobby, the same poster and six messages affixed to the stair risers between floors, and an 11(3/4)- x 8(1/4)-inch point-of-choice prompt at the elevators. Stair and elevator choices (n = 26,806) were videotaped throughout and subsequently coded for direction of travel, traveler's sex, and traveler's load. Weight status was coded using silhouettes beside the computer monitor. RESULTS: A significant effect of the intervention on stair climbing was greater in those coded as overweight (+5.4%; odds ratio = 1.33) than in individuals of normal weight (+2.5%; odds ratio = 1.12). Although stair descent was more common than ascent, the intervention had similar effects for both directions of travel. DISCUSSION: Stair climbing at work has few barriers and seems to be a type of physical activity that is acceptable to overweight individuals. The relatively weak effect of workplace interventions compared with results for public access staircases may reflect uncontrolled effects such as the immediate availability of the elevator for the traveler.

Elevators and Escalators↗

PubMed2005

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. Our findings indicate the feasibility of simple stair-use promotion campaigns based around the repetition of a single message.

Adult↗