Purpose – Worksites have been targeted as an important setting for physical activity interventions.
A recent emphasis for health promoters is the use of point-of-choice interventions to encourage stair
climbing at work. The purpose of this paper is to explore three point-of-choice campaigns to increase
stair climbing at ...»»»»
Purpose – Worksites have been targeted as an important setting for physical activity interventions.
A recent emphasis for health promoters is the use of point-of-choice interventions to encourage stair
climbing at work. The purpose of this paper is to explore three point-of-choice campaigns to increase
stair climbing at work.
Design/methodology/approach – Ten focus groups and a rating task were conducted with
59 employees from a University and a University Hospital in the UK. Focus groups were structured
around three messages and four prompts and sought to explore the motivational power of the
resources, identify factors contributing to their effectiveness and provide recommendations to improve
and optimize content. Benefits and barriers to stair climbing at work were also explored. Focus groups
were recorded, transcribed and coded to identify key themes.
Findings – Intra-personal factors health, motivation, social norms and time management influence
stair climbing at work. Critically, extra-personal factors associated with the worksite itself can also
bias a traveler’s choice independently of any intervention. Results suggest that messages targeting
heart health have the greatest impact on reported propensity to climb the stairs at work. Messages
targeting rate of respiration for fitness, however, may have a negative effect given that most people
want to avoid getting out of breath at work.
Originality/value – Qualitative research is essential for developing and refining the design detail
of point-of-choice interventions and tailoring their components to address individuals’ needs in
different settings but there is little evidence of this in practice.^^^^
