Table 1 Characteristics of websites promoting health services for preconception, fertility, and pregnancy, compared with other health services’ websites identified using the study search protocol (n = 430)

Locality

 Population equal to or less than 200 000

233 (54.2)

82 (61.7)

0.04

0.01

111 (57.2)

0.3

-

40 (38.8)

< 0.001

0.01

 Population greater than 200 000

197 (45.8)

51 (38.4)

83 (42.8)

63 (61.2)

Service type

 Multi-professional clinic

300 (69.8)

73 (54.9)

< 0.001

0.22

155 (79.9)

< 0.001

0.20

72 (69.9)

0.9

-

 Specific health professional

130 (30.2)

60 (45.1)

39 (20.1)

31 (30.1)

Primary health condition focus based on homepage content

 Infertility

190 (44.2)

45 (33.8)

< 0.001

0.26

128 (66.0)

< 0.001

0.48

17 (16.5)

< 0.001

0.43

 General health

99 (23.0)

52 (39.1)

20 (10.3)

27 (26.2)

 Pregnancy

99 (23.0)

26 (19.6)

19 (9.8)

54 (52.4)

 Preconception

37 (8.6)

8 (6.0)

26 (13.4)

3 (2.9)

 Other

5 (1.2)

2 (1.5)

1 (0.5)

2 (1.9)

Health professionals working at the health service‡

Specialist doctor

286 (66.5)

66 (49.6)

< 0.001

0.24

169 (87.1)

< 0.001

0.40

51 (49.5)

< 0.001

0.20

Nurse

90 (20.9)

15 (11.3)

0.001

0.16

54 (27.8)

0.001

0.16

21 (20.4)

0.9

Psychologists/Counsellors

86 (20.0)

29 (21.8)

0.5

-

48 (24.7)

0.03

0.11

9 (8.7)

0.001

0.16

Naturopath

56 (13.0)

39 (29.3)

< 0.001

0.32

15 (7.7)

0.003

0.14

2 (1.9)

< 0.001

0.18

Midwife

53 (12.3)

9 (6.8)

0.02

0.11

10 (5.2)

< 0.001

0.20

34 (33.0)

< 0.001

0.35

Manual therapist^‡

46 (10.7)

18 (13.5)

0.2

-

2 (1.0)

< 0.001

0.28

26 (25.2)

< 0.001

0.26

Scientist^‡

41 (9.5)

11 (8.3)

0.6

-

30 (15.5)

< 0.001

0.18

0 (0.0)

< 0.001

0.18

Acupuncturist

33 (7.7)

12 (9.0)

0.5

-

17 (8.8)

0.4

-

4 (3.9)

0.1

-

General practitioner

24 (5.6)

10 (7.5)

0.2

-

7 (3.6)

0.1

-

7 (6.8)

0.5

-

Educator^‡

21 (4.9)

5 (3.8)

0.5

-

9 (4.6)

0.8

-

7 (6.8)

0.3

-

Other ingestive therapies

20 (4.7)

14 (10.5)

< 0.001

0.19

5 (2.6)

0.06

-

1 (1.0)

0.04

0.03

Dietitian

16 (3.7)

6 (4.5)

0.5

-

5 (2.6)

0.3

-

5 (4.9)

0.5

-

Yoga/pilates

9 (2.1)

3 (2.3)

0.9

-

1 (0.5)

0.04

0.10

5 (4.9)

0.03

0.11

Target population of the health service

Women

430 (100.0)

133 (100.0)

-

-

194 (100.0)

-

-

103 (100.0)

-

-

Men

297 (69.1)

93 (69.9)

0.8

-

152 (78.4)

< 0.0001

0.18

52 (50.5)

< 0.001

0.26

Other (e.g., children, illness populations)

95 (22.1)

42 (31.6)

0.002

0.15

38 (19.6)

0.3

15 (14.6)

0.04

0.10

Healthcare needs addressed at the health service

Infertility care

303 (70.6)

89 (67.4)

0.3

-

186 (95.9)

< 0.001

0.50

28 (27.2)

< 0.001

0.53

Preconception care

261 (60.8)

99 (75.0)

< 0.001

0.19

127 (65.5)

0.08

-

35 (34.0)

< 0.001

0.31

Pregnancy care

222 (51.8)

87 (65.9)

< 0.001

0.19

45 (23.2)

< 0.001

0.52

90 (87.4)

< 0.001

0.41

Postnatal care

201 (46.9)

84 (63.6)

< 0.001

0.22

42 (21.7)

< 0.001

0.46

75 (72.8)

< 0.001

0.29

Other care (e.g., for specific health conditions)

161 (37.5)

73 (55.3)

< 0.001

0.25

40 (20.6)

< 0.001

0.32

48 (46.6)

0.03

0.10

Healthcare across preconception, pregnancy, and postnatal life stages

141 (32.8)

70 (52.6)

< 0.001

0.28

41 (21.1)

< 0.001

0.23

30 (29.1)

0.4

-

Website information sources

Blogs

157 (36.9)

49 (37.4)

0.8

-

81 (41.8)

0.05

0.10

27 (26.2)

0.01

0.12

Links to external sources

46 (10.8)

10 (7.6)

0.2

-

21 (10.9)

0.9

-

15 (14.6)

0.2

-

Link to research publication or website

6 (1.4)

1 (0.8)

0.5

-

2 (1.0)

0.6

-

3 (2.9)

0.1

-

Link to external government or non-government organisation

46 (10.8)

10 (7.6)

0.2

-

20 (10.4)

0.8

-

16 (15.5)

0.07

-

Link to other external source

5 (1.2)

3 (2.3)

0.2

-

1 (0.5)

0.3

-

1 (1.0)

0.8

-