Website Usability Analysis of U.S. Military Residency Programs.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Informatics
• Website Usability

Background:

• The Military Match system is crucial for medical students applying to military residency programs.
• Residency program websites are primary information sources for applicants, especially when in-person interactions are limited.
• Systematic evaluation of military residency websites is needed to assess their effectiveness in informing prospective students.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically evaluate the usability of U.S. military residency program websites.
• To compare the usability of websites across different branches of the military (Army, Navy, Air Force).
• To identify areas for improvement in military residency website design and content.

Main Methods:

• A previously published website usability scoring system was adapted and applied to 106 military residency program websites.
• Usability was quantitatively analyzed across four categories: accessibility, marketing, content quality, and technology.
• A secondary analysis used automated methods to assess website backlinking (internal, external, social media).

Main Results:

• Technology was the highest-scoring usability category (0.749), while marketing (0.414) and content quality (0.428) scored lowest.
• No significant differences in overall usability were found among Army, Navy, and Air Force residency programs.
• Secondary analysis revealed more external than internal backlinking, with no social media links; the Army showed significantly lower backlinking compared to the Navy.

Conclusions:

• Military residency websites are vital communication tools for applicant information dissemination.
• Improving website accessibility, content, and marketing is predicted to enhance communication effectiveness and applicant interest.
• Addressing identified usability and backlinking deficiencies can optimize military residency program recruitment.