Accessibility of Online Resources for Associations Providing Services to People with Brain Injuries in Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, many community-based services for people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) have been moved online, which may have hindered their accessibility. The study aims to assess the accessibility of online information and resources dedicated to people with TBI. Methods. The websites of 14 organizations offering information and resources to people with TBI in Quebec were evaluated. Two co-authors independently evaluated one page of each website and compared their results. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed. Results. The average accessibility score of the 14 websites evaluated was 54% with a standard deviation of 16%. Website design and writing were the most accessible aspects (72.3%). Only two out of the 14 websites (14%) presented multimedia content. This category presented the most barriers to accessibility with a score of 42%. Regarding images, they reached an accessibility score of 46%. Their main shortcoming was the absence of a caption. Conclusion. This study highlights accessibility issues specific to people with TBI to access online resources and identifies specific areas of improvement. The results of this study provide community organizations with avenues of improvement to make their online resources more accessible to people with TBI and may therefore lead to improved community practices.