The Effectiveness of a Motivational Signage as a Natural

Experiment in Promoting Physical Activity in a University Setting:

Program Evaluation using a Logic Model

Rakhmat Ari Wibowo

, Yilling Tan

, Paul Kelly

Physical Activity for Health Research Center, Morray House School of Education,

the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Keywords: Physical activity, Stair climbing, Exercise, Public health, University

Abstract: Physical inactivity is an emerging problem which is prominent in university settings. A program which

promotes stair climbing could help to reduce the problem of physical inactivity in a university. A recent

systematic review suggested the usefulness of motivational signage for promoting stair climbing. While the

randomized and controlled trial is difficult to conduct for evaluating the implementation of motivational

signage, natural experiment using a logic model was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a

motivational signage program in a university building. Methods: A logic model was developed to conduct

program evaluation. A questionnaire was developed based on the logic model. A survey using the

questionnaire was conducted to examine visibility of the signage, readability of the signage, the influence of

the signage on the choice of stair use, awareness of the benefits of using the stairs, encouragement to use the

stairs, and opinion about the importance of the motivational signage. Descriptive statistics and calculation of

the odd-ratio were conducted to report the data. Results: Most of the research respondents were female

(56%), students (76%), and current stair users (74%). The motivational signage in this study resulted in

excellent visibility and readability, 71% and 72% respectively. However, most of the visitors who had ever

seen the signage still felt that it did not influence their choice (71%). Students were 10 times less likely to

see the signage and 3 times less likely to read the signage than staffs. The readability of the signage was

also associated with the influence of the signage on the choice of using the stairs (Odd ratio 2.78 95%

Confidence interval 1.13 to 6.82). Discussion: Motivational signage could influence the stair use behavior in

a university building. There were several suggestions to improve the effectiveness of motivational signage

in promoting physical activity in a university setting. Future program evaluation should have a more

rigorous design by measuring the baseline data and observing an identical building as a control.

1 INTRODUCTION

Physical inactivity is an emerging global problem. It

is the fourth leading risk factor of mortality

worldwide (World Health Organization, 2009).

While 27.5% of adults were physically inactive

(World Health Organization, 2018), the problem of

physical inactivity was more prominent in university

settings. In a UK university, 42% of employees did

not engage in a recommended amount of physical

activity (PA) (Cooper & Barton, 2015). Moreover,

more than 60% of employees in an Indonesia

university had a low cardio respiratory fitness level,

which represented a lack of physical activity

(Wibowo, Wasityastuti, & Sofro, 2019). Similar

problems were found among university students. A

recent systematic review found that almost half of

the university students were physically inactive

(Keating et al., 2005). Investing in physical activity

promotion in a university setting could result in

beneficial effects for both employees and students.

British Universities & Colleges Sport (2018) found

that the promotion of regular physical activity

among university students could improve personal

wellbeing, mental wellbeing, academic attainment,

perceived social inclusion, and perceptions of

employability. A Cochrane Systematic Review

conducted by Freak-Poli et al., (2013) also found

that workplace physical activity intervention

improved employees’ health parameter, quality of

life, and worksite injury. Therefore, a program for

Wibowo, R., Tan, Y. and Kelly, P.

The Effectiveness of a Motivational Signage as a Natural Experiment in Promoting Physical Activity in a University Setting: Program Evaluation using a Logic Model.

DOI: 10.5220/0009896407670773

In Proceedings of the 3rd Yogyakarta International Seminar on Health, Physical Education, and Sport Science in conjunction with the 2nd Conference on Interdisciplinary Approach in Sports

(YISHPESS and CoIS 2019), pages 767-773

ISBN: 978-989-758-457-2

767

promoting physical activity in a university setting

could be a beneficial investment. A program which

promotes stair climbing could help people reach the

recommended amount of physical activity. Since

stair climbing is classified as a vigorous-intensity

physical activity (Ainsworth et al., 2011), the

amount of that kind of PA needed to reach the

guideline is lower than moderate-intensity PA, such

as walking. Recent systematic reviews suggested

that motivational signage could increase stair

climbing in worksite settings, including university

settings (Bauman et al., 2017; Bellicha et al., 2015;

Jennings et al., 2017; Soler et al., 2010). Thus,

several universities implemented motivational

signage program to promote stair climbing. While

the randomized controlled trial is considered the

gold standard for evaluating the effectiveness of

interventions, this type of studies is difficult to

conduct in human behavioral research, especially in

policy or build environment evaluation. Ramanathan

et al. (2008) suggested that natural experiments

could be conducted to evaluate changes in policy or

built environment. In natural experiments, policy or

program are often delivered before baseline data are

collected. To evaluate the program, a logic model

could be developed to demonstrate how the program

will contribute to the outcome.This study aims

to provide an evaluation of a motivational signage

program in a university building. A logic model was

developed to evaluate the effectiveness of

motivational signage in promoting stair use, and to

identify elements of the motivational signage

program which will contribute to the increase of

stair use.

2 METHODS

This study has been approved by the Moray House

School of Education Ethics Committee on 21 March

2019.

2.1 Development of the Logic Model

The logic model was developed to evaluate the

effectiveness of the motivational signage in a reverse

approach. This development was started by

answering the question “What must happen in order

to achieve the outcome?” Then, it was continued by

answering this question, which adapted in each stage

until a chain connected the program and the outcome

(Figure 1).

Figure 1: Logic Model of the Motivational Signage for Promoting Stair Use.

This chain is influenced by the current stair use

behavior, occupation, and gender since it was

hypothesized that these factors could interfere with

the process and the outcome. Then, a questionnaire

was developed based on this logic model to

investigate the current stair use behavior, and to

explore the visitors’ perception of motivational

signage, including their perception on the visibility

and readability of the signage, influence of the

signage on their awareness of the benefits of stair

use, encouragement to use the stairs, and their

decision to use the stairs. Finally, the visitors’

opinion about the importance of the motivational

signage was also assessed.

2.2 Participants and Measurements

A survey was conducted using a questionnaire in a

printed or digital version on a working day at a

University building. All visitors were included to the

building except those who were pregnant or carried

bulky goods. Then, their baseline characteristics

were collected, including gender, occupation, and

current stair use behavior. A single question was

employed to examine each measurement. Thus, there

were six questions related to the visitors’ perception.

1) Visibility of the motivational signage: The

visibility of the signage was assessed by asking the

visitors if they see the signage (“Did you see the

signage?”, anchored with “Yes” or “No”). If they did

not see the signage, the readability of the signage

was not asked to them. However, the question went

directly on their perception of the influence of the

signage on their choice to use the stairs.

2) Readability of the motivational signage: To

the visitors who saw the signage, the readability of

the signage was asked by the question “Did you ever

read the signage?” anchored with “No,” “Not

YISHPESS and CoIS 2019 - The 3rd Yogyakarta International Seminar on Health, Physical Education, and Sport Science (YISHPESS

2019) in conjunction with The 2nd Conference on Interdisciplinary Approach in Sports (CoIS 2019)

768

really,” “Not sure,” “Yes briefly,” and “Yes in

detail.”

3) Perceived influence of the motivational

signage on the awareness of the benefits of using

the stairs:

The visitors’ perceived influence of the

motivational signage on the awareness of the

benefits of stair use was examined using a question

“Did this make you aware of the benefits of using

the stairs?” This question scored using Likert Scale

from 1=“Not at all” to 5=“very aware.”

4) Perceived influence of the motivational

signage on the encouragement to use the stairs:

The visitors’ perceived influence of the motivational

signage on the encouragement to use the stairs was

assessed using a question “To what extent, does the

signage encourage you to use the stairs?” (on a scale

from 1=“not at all” to 5=“strongly encouraged.”)

5) Perceived influence of the motivational

signage on visitors’ choice in using the stairs: A

question “Do the signage influence your choice of

stairs or lift?” was used to assess the visitors’

perceived influence of the motivational signage on

their choice in using the stairs. This question was

anchored with “not at all,” “not really,” “not sure,”

“yes a bit,” and “yes very much.”

6) Visitors’ opinion about the importance of the

motivational signage: This item was assessed by

asking the visitors if they thought that the signage

was important (Was the signage important?) on a

scale from 1=“not at all” to 5=“very important.”

2.3 Analysis

The participants’ gender, occupation, current stair

use behavior, visibility of the signage, readability of

the signage, influence of the signage on the choice

of stair use, awareness of the benefits of using the

stairs, encouragement to use the stairs, and opinion

about the importance of the motivational signage

were descriptively analyzed using frequency counts.

Odds ratios were calculated to examine how

much the possibilities of the motivational signage

could differ between students and staffs, as well as

between genders and current stair use behavior, and

how much the possibilities of the influence of the

signage on visitors’ choice in using the stairs could

differ between students and staffs, as well as

between genders and current stair use behavior. The

impacts of the signage visibility and readability on

the influence of the signage on visitors’ choice in

using the stair were also examined using the odds

ratio. Categorical data of the readability of the

signage were transformed into a dichotomous

variable (“No,” “Not really,” “Not sure” were

transformed into “No,” and “Yes briefly,” “Yes in

detail” were transformed into “Yes”) to allow odds

ratio calculation. The influence of the signage on the

choice of stair use was also re-categorized into a

dichotomous variable (“Not at all,” “Not really,”

“Not sure” were transformed into “No” and “Yes a

bit,” “Yes very much” were transformed into

“Yes”).

3 RESULTS

The data from 221 respondents were collected. It

was found out that most of the respondents were

female (56%), students (76%), and current stair

users (74%). Seventy-one percent of visitors to the

building had ever seen the motivational signage

before the survey was conducted. Almost all of the

staffs had ever seen the signage (94.3%), but there

were only a few students (63.7%) who had ever seen

the signage (Figure 2).

igure 2: Visibility of the motivational signage.

Among the visitors who had ever seen the

signage, more than half read the signage (50.5% read

briefly, and 15% read in details). The proportion of

visitors who did not read the signage was almost

similar between groups (occupation, gender, current

stair use behavior) (Figure 3). Most of the visitors

who had ever seen the signage felt that the signage

did not influence their choice of using the stairs

(71%) (Figure 4).

The Effectiveness of a Motivational Signage as a Natural Experiment in Promoting Physical Activity in a University Setting: Program

Evaluation using a Logic Model

769

gure 3: Readability of the motivational signage.

Figure 4: Influence of the motivational signage on visitors’

choice.

Based on the odds ratio calculation, gender and

current stair use behavior were not associated with

different visibility of the signage, but the occupation

was associated with different visibility (students vs.

staffs OR 0.1 95% CI 0.03-0.35) (Table 1). Gender

and current stair use behavior were also not

associated with the readability of the signage, but

visitors’ occupation was associated with that

parameter (students vs. staffs OR 0.3 95%

Confidence Interval 0.12 - 0.75) (Table 1). The

readability of the signage was associated with the

influence of the signage on the choice of using the

stairs (Yes vs. No OR 2.78 95% Confidence Interval

1.13-6.82) (Table 2).

Table 1: Odds of seeing and reading the signage between

students and staffs.

Number of

visitors (%)

Odds Ratio

(95%

Confidence

Interval)

Outcome Students Staffs

Saw the

signage

107(63,7%) 50 (94.3%)

0.1 (0.03 to

0.35)

Read the

signage

70 (65.4%) 43 (86%)

0.3 (0.12 to

0.75)

Table 2: Odds of influenced by the signage.

Number

of visitors

(%)

Odds Ratio

(95%

Confidence

Interval)

Outcome

Read the

signage

Did not read

the signage

Influenced

by the

signage

(34.5%)

7 (15.9%)

2.78 (1.13 –

6.82)

All visitors were asked about their opinion on the

motivational signage. Only minority of the visitors

felt that the motivational signage raised their

awareness of the benefits of stair use behavior (37%)

and encouraged them to use the stairs (21%).

However, almost half of the visitors thought that the

motivational signage is important (41%) (Figure 5).

YISHPESS and CoIS 2019 - The 3rd Yogyakarta International Seminar on Health, Physical Education, and Sport Science (YISHPESS

2019) in conjunction with The 2nd Conference on Interdisciplinary Approach in Sports (CoIS 2019)

770

Figure 5: Visitors’ opinion.

4 DISCUSSION

From the data analysis, it was found that currently,

74% of visitors to the building were stairs users.

This percentage of stair use in the building was

higher than other buildings on previously published

studies. Several studies found that the percentage of

stairs users after motivational signage intervention

was only below 60% (Bauman et al., 2017; Bellicha

et al., 2015; Crozier, 2019; Jennings et al., 2017;

Soler et al., 2010). In this natural experiment, the

effect size of motivational signage intervention

could not be calculated and analyzed since the

baseline data were not available.

The visibility and the readability of the signage

were good, 71% and 65.5% respectively. However,

only a small percentage (29.3%) of visitors who had

ever seen the signage felt that the signage influenced

their choice in using the stairs. While only 15% of

visitors who had ever seen the signage read in details

and the readability was associated with the influence

of the signage on visitors’ choice, it could be

suggested that improving signage readability could

improve the signage influence on visitors’ stair use

behavior.

Typography, word length, and word arrangement

could influence the readability of signage. Berger

(2004) suggested that a serif type font and a

combination of upper-case and lower-case could

improve the readability of the signage. Although the

motivational signage in this study had already used a

serif type font, it was written in upper-case only.

Eddington & Philips (2017) suggested that signage

should follow the 3x5 rule and contained no more

than 250 characters. The 3x5 rule said that signage

should be written in only three lines with five words

or five lines with three words to keep it easily

readable. They also suggested that the signage

contains a clear and concise message which can be

read in seven seconds or less. While already contains

142 characters message, the signage in this study did

not follow the 3x5 rule since it was written in eleven

lines.

This study found that the signage got less

attention from students. Students were 10 times less

likely to see the signage and 3 times less likely to

read the signage than staffs. These findings are in

accordance with previous studies. Several authors

found that static motivational signage was less

effective in promoting stair use in young adults than

older adults (Anderson et al., 1998; Yoon et al.,

2018). Several studies suggested that the addition of

interactive elements such as interactive painting,

interactive map, piano stairs, or gamification using

smart phone application could improve the

effectiveness of the lift signage among students

(Engelen et al., 2017; Yoon et al., 2018).

Beyond improving the readability and visibility

of the signage, there were several suggestions to

improve the effectiveness of motivational signage

The Effectiveness of a Motivational Signage as a Natural Experiment in Promoting Physical Activity in a University Setting: Program

Evaluation using a Logic Model

771

intervention. Signage containing a specific message

(e.g., Taking up the stairs burns five times more

calories than taking an elevator) could have better

effectiveness in promoting the stair use than a

general message (e.g., Burn calories, Get Healthy)

(Eckhardt, Kerr, & Taylor, 2015). A systematic

review also suggested that the addition of a

directional sign could improve the effectiveness of

motivational signage intervention (Soler et al.,

2010).

To best of our knowledge, this is the first study

evaluating motivational signage effectiveness using

a logic model. It showed the usefulness of a logic

model for evaluating a change in policy or built

environment. However, it has a few limitations. As

mentioned earlier, it is not the gold standard for

evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention.

Based on our findings, it is recommended that future

studies should be conducted with rigorous design by

measuring baseline data and observing the stair use

in an identical building as a control.

5 CONCLUSSION

By using a logic model, this study showed that

motivational signage influenced the stair use

behavior in a university setting. The readability and

the visibility of the signage could impact the

effectiveness of the signage in influencing the stair

use behavior. In addition, motivational signage

resulted differently between students and staffs.

FUNDINGS

This study was funded by LPDP (Indonesia

Endowment Fund for Education) as a master degree

scholarship to RAW.

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The Effectiveness of a Motivational Signage as a Natural Experiment in Promoting Physical Activity in a University Setting: Program

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