Work

Usability and accessibility of total shoulder arthroplasty and rotator cuff repair online patient educational materials for persons with disabilities

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Background: Online patient educational materials (OPEMs) enable patients to better understand their care. However, not every patient has the same ability to utilize Internet-based information, due to cognitive/medical limitations. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a set of defined and evaluable rules and regulations for the development of websites that are accessible to persons with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to assess the accessibility, usability, and WCAG compliance of OPEMs pertaining to total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) and rotator cuff repair (RCR). Methods: , was used to count the number of compliance errors at each WCAG compliance level (A, AA, AAA) and text contrast ratio for each OPEM. Results: The mean conformity scores for TSA were as follows: 73.0 ± 12.8% SEO score, 73.6 ± 12.0% content score, 72.0 ± 10.8% design score, 64.7 ± 16.4 % performance score, 74.2 ± 11.9% accessibility score, and 75.2 ± 6.7 % overall score. The mean conformity scores for RCR were as follows: 74.2 ± 19.3% SEO score, 67.5 ± 18.6% content score, 66.7 ± 12.9% design score, 61.4 ± 16.4% performance score, 74.1 ± 14.0% accessibility score, and 72.7 ± 11.7% overall score. The mean number of TSA compliance errors was 12.36 ± 10.55 at WCAG 2.2 A, 17.32 ± 13.49 at WCAG 2.2 AA, and 62.04 ± 27.22 at WCAG 2.2 AAA. The mean number of RCR compliance errors was 20.48 ± 20.80 at WCAG 2.2 A, 26.48 ± 22.85 at WCAG 2.2 AA, and 58.12 ± 35.72 at WCAG 2.2 AAA. The mean contrast ratio was 14.23 ± 5.19:1 for TSA and 13.26 ± 5.66:1 for RCR. Conclusion: OPEMs for both TSA and RCR, on average, contain high levels of WCAG compliance errors and have low SEO, content, design, performance, and accessibility as determined by WCAG. However, these OPEMs successfully ensure high contrast ratios, which are necessary for visually impaired users. There is no significant difference between scores, compliance errors, or contrast ratios between the two search terms.

Source: JSES Reviews Reports and Techniques

DOI: 10.1016/j.xrrt.2024.09.009

Authors: S Shamtej Singh Rana, Jacob Sina Ghahremani, Ronald Anthony Navarro

Institutions: Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, Kaiser Permanente

Language: English

Topic: Digital Accessibility for Disabilities

Subfield: Human Factors and Ergonomics

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,250