Evidence-Based Resource Summary

The Community Preventive Services Task Force recommends point-of-decision prompts to increase the percentage of people choosing to take the stairs rather than an elevator or escalator. Point-of-decision prompts are motivational signs placed in or near stairwells or at the base of elevators and escalators to encourage individuals to increase stair use. These signs: inform people about health or weight loss benefits from taking the stairs, and/or remind people already predisposed to becoming more active, for health or other reasons, about an opportunity at hand to do so. Evaluated interventions involved prompts used alone or in combination with stairwell enhancements (e.g., music in stairwells) to increase stair use.