ArticleInternational journal for equity in health2025
How accessible are the websites of health services for people who have had a stroke?
Article in International journal for equity in health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Developing and Applying a Usability Testing Methodology for a Website With Survivors of Stroke and Caregivers: Tutorial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Evaluating the Readability, Accessibility, and Quality of Online Health Information on Opioid Use Disorder: A Comparative Analysis of Government and Non-Government Websites.Advances in health information science and practice · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAfter sudden onset conditions (e.g., stroke), people commonly search for information online about healthcare and health services. Accessible websites are important for people with support needs, such as aphasia, to maximise their access to health service information. The accessibility of stroke-related health service websites against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and stroke-related access needs is not known. Therefore, the present study examined website accessibility of Australian health organisations, and their services, that provide post-stroke healthcare.
methodA cross-sectional descriptive study design was used to identify relevant health services in Victoria and South Australia. Organisation homepages and service webpages were assessed for WCAG errors and alerts using the WAVE® Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool. A 16-item stroke accessibility checklist was used to document accessibility issues for people with stroke-related communication, cognitive and sensory processing impairments. The checklist assessed webpage navigation, readability and formatting. Publication of an accessibility statement or policy on the website was recorded. Issues were classified according to perceivability, understandability, operability and robustness (POUR) domains.
resultsA total of 185 webpages (126 homepages and 59 service-specific webpages) were evaluated against WCAG standards. Most webpages (n = 150, 81.1%) had at least one WCAG error (Median = 5 errors); the most prevalent being empty links that could not be read by a screen reader (n = 92, 49.7%). Checklist evaluations were completed for 105 webpages. Only 17 websites had an accessibility statement. Nearly all webpages had a reading level above Flesch-Kincaid Grade 6. Problems with readability, line height, font size, paragraph length, and bolding of key information were common. All had issues with 'perceivability' and 'understandability', and all but one website had operability issues. Only 10% of webpages contained robustness errors that could lead to compatibility issues across various browsers, devices, and assistive technologies. Government organisation websites had significantly fewer POUR accessibility issues than private sector sites.
conclusionsHealth services should take concerted steps towards ensuring that their websites are accessible for all healthcare consumers, including people with language, cognitive and visual processing impairments, which are common after stroke. Online service information provides a key role in enabling stroke survivors to access information and make decisions about their healthcare.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.