Availability and accessibility of information regarding the protection of athletes’ health and promotion of sport for health to the general population on the websites of French Olympic Sports Federations

Abstract

Background: Diffusion of information regarding ‘protecting athletes’ health’ and the ‘promotion of sport for health of the general population’ is a mission of National Sports Federations. Internet is a commonly used source of health-related information. The Olympic Games (OG) are an opportunity for a nation to promote the health benefits of sport. Objective: To analyse the availability and accessibility of health-related information on French National Olympic Sports Federation (FOFs) websites just after the bid in 2015 for the 2024 OG and six months after official assignment (2018) of the games to Paris. Methods: This descriptive study analysed the availability and accessibility of information regarding athletes’ health protection and the promotion of sport for health for all, on FOF websites, using a list of 12 different topics and two check lists (Google score (GS) and Website score (WS)) in September 2015 and March 2018. Results: The websites of 31 and 36 FOFs were analysed in 2015 and 2018, respectively. In 2015, 32.3% of FOFs reached a GS ≥ 75%: this was 50% in 2018. From 2015 to 2018, there was a significant increase in the availability of information on FOF website based on GS (mean increase of 41.2%; p=0.004) and a tendency to increase for availability and accessibility based on WS (mean increase of 21.4%; p=0.07). Conclusions: The FOFs are engaged in diffusing health-related information via their websites, although the availability and accessibility of this information varies according to FOFs and topics.