Evaluating webpage performance and web accessibility of Canadian universities’ mental health service webpages

There is a high prevalence of mental health (MH) difficulties among students enrolled in post-secondary institutions but few access free on-campus MH services. Young adults’ main source of information gathering is through web browsing. As such, this study examined the accessibility and performance of Canadian universities’ MH webpages.

We used open-source tools to examine performance metrics and webpage accessibility. Specifically, we assessed performance metrics such as perceived load speed, page responsiveness, and visual stability. Webpage accessibility metrics included webpage compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA and webpage content readability.

In total, we identified 96 university MH webpages from 108 university campus locations. Fifteen university campus locations had no online communication of MH services. Of the webpages identified, most information was presented at a grade 10 reading level or less. Majority of mobile webpages (78%) had poor performance and 68% of webpages designed for desktops were also identified as needing improvement. Only 15% of webpages were compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA.

Study findings suggest that while information presented on university MH service webpages may be easy to understand, few webpages are compliant with web accessibility guidelines and most webpages had poor performance. Improving webpage performance and web accessibility based on these results may promote better user experience and decrease barriers to accessing campus MH services.