Accessibility of Online Information About Student Post-Secondary Physical Health Activities and Initiatives on North American Campuses

Abstract

Physical activity has been shown to improve the wellbeing of young adults pursuing post-secondary education, yet most college students do not perform adequate amounts of physical activity. Given post-secondary students’ reliance on internet and social media for physical activity information gathering, we questioned whether a lack of activity-promoting information might contribute to the activity deficit. Thus, we sought to determine the accessibility and extent of online physical health activity information and initiatives across a sample of large North American campuses by performing a series of physical wellness related searches through Google, the institutions’ sites, and the institutions’ Instagram accounts. Specifically, we question the extent of limitations to the accessibility and content information on institutions’ sites. We found less than half of all web searches and only three-point-five percent of social media posts had topically relevant information. Google was a more effective tool for finding relevant information than institution websites, suggesting institutions could benefit from improving access to physical activity information on their sites. Social media posts were primarily varsity and sport related, indicating a need for increased content about accessible physical activity options. Investigating possible directions to improve institution website usability could benefit student access to physical wellness resources on campus.

1. Introduction

Physical activity can significantly improve the wellbeing of adolescents and young adults pursuing post-secondary education (Brown & Kwan, 2021; Brown et al., 2022; Murphy et al., 2022). The connection between physical activity and improved subjective wellbeing for post-secondary students has been shown to be mediated by self-efficacy and emotional intelligence (Wang et al., 2022). This may be strengthened by personal outcomes associated with physical activity, including: achievements leading to improved self-esteem; a sense of belonging; social connectedness; a sense of identity; the development of resiliency and ability to respond to setbacks; and an opportunity to experience mindfulness and distraction (Murphy et al., 2022). This is an especially important finding for researchers and practitioners focused on campus health initiatives—and underscores the importance of making such initiatives as accessible as possible—as these emerging adults are at a high risk for certain negative health outcomes (Ferro et al., 2015; Gagnon et al., 2015; McCloughen et al., 2016; Thapar et al., 2022) as they navigate the life changes and challenges involved in starting post-secondary education (Park et al., 2020). Yet, despite the compelling link between young adults’ physical activity and overall wellbeing, there is evidence that most post-secondary students do not perform adequate amounts of physical activity (e.g., American College Health Association, 2019; Kwan et al., 2013; Weatherson et al., 2021). For example, results from a 2019–2020 campus wellbeing survey revealed only 9.9% of college students met the benchmarks of a 24-h movement guideline, with merely 61.1% of students achieving appropriate moderate to vigorous physical activity (Weatherson et al., 2021).

In light of research stressing post-secondary students’ physical activity deficit, an important next step—especially for those involved in designing and implementing campus health and wellness initiatives—is determining factors that may be at the root of the deficit, and assessing how they can best contribute to encouraging more physical activity among campus populations as a means of promoting students’ optimal health. Given that post-secondary students show a strong tendency to find information about physical activities through online sources—whether websites or social media (Idowu et al., 2024; Ori & Berry, 2020)—it is possible that a lack of information pertaining to physical activities and a lack of organized institutional promotion or inclusion of physical activity initiatives on post-secondary campuses may be contributing to the inadequate physical activity of students. This is especially relevant given that, as understood by Media Richness Theory—which evaluates communication mediums based on their effectiveness of conveying information with minimal misinterpretation—unaddressed media (i.e., media without specific recipients in mind), such as social media, are considered low in ability to effectively communicate information (Daft & Lengel, 1986). Concern about possible lack of information, or readily accessible information, about these initiatives is the main motivator behind the assessment undertaken here.

Purpose of This Study

Prior research into physical activity initiatives on campus has identified barriers to effective implementation of physical wellness initiatives. These barriers include institutional financial costs (Hatfield et al., 2022; Milroy et al., 2012) and time (Hatfield et al., 2022), policies that hinder implementation, and physical environment/space limitations (Horacek et al., 2014; Milroy et al., 2012). These studies also highlighted factors that encouraged initiatives’ success, namely institutional support through money and space (Milroy et al., 2012). Finally, previous research has demonstrated on-campus factors that promote a healthy lifestyle, including free and easily available recreation programs and facilities (Hatfield et al., 2022; Horacek et al., 2014), free water in facilities, availability of personnel (e.g., dietitians) to advise students on wellness matters, campus walking/running paths, and outdoor recreation clinics (Hatfield et al., 2022).

With an aim of mapping out the extent, accessibility (in relation to ease of locating content), and content of information on physical health activities and initiatives across major North American campuses, our research expands on these previous investigations into on-campus physical activity initiatives (namely Faubert, 2009; Hatfield et al., 2022; Horacek et al., 2014; Milroy et al., 2012) in several key ways. First, these prior studies focused on a singular country (e.g., the United States or Canada), and tended to evaluate initiatives from an administrative lens as opposed to a focus on the student experience; we therefore broaden knowledge of initiatives by looking at the United States and Canada together, and shifting our focus to students’ experiences interfacing with information. Further, to our knowledge, no prior research has attempted to investigate a broad, representative sample of larger North American post-secondary schools’ physical activity initiatives; our sample thus takes a broad and systematic look at the two nations’ campus initiatives. Our research is also original in its analysis of these initiatives through a textual analysis of online resources that assesses information as students would encounter it (and not from the “insider” policy or administrative lens of groups that have prior knowledge of existing initiatives). Finally, no previous research, to our knowledge, has attempted to look at on-campus physical health initiatives as promoted through campus-specific sites (e.g., web platforms and portals accessible to particular institutions’ student bodies) alongside social media content. To address this research gap, we look at both types of sources together, and emphasize the importance of examining online content since online advertising has become a vital means of communicating information in postsecondary campus communities (Avram, 2015; Decker, n.d.).

The primary goals of this study, therefore, are to determine the accessibility and extent of physical health activity information and initiatives for post-secondary students across a broad sample of large campuses throughout Canada and the United States, and to determine what types of physical activity initiatives are directly promoted by post-secondary institutions across the continent. Knowledge gained through the study is intended to benefit post-secondary personnel in the promotion and development of physical activity initiatives by identifying gaps in information conveyed to students and barriers to students easily accessing such information on North American campuses. In light of existing research, we propose that finding a variety of readily retrievable information on a variety of campus physical health initiatives would bode well for assisting students in achieving optimal physical health outcomes, while at the same time revealing any gaps or accessibility shortcomings in accessing such material. Ultimately, we hope the findings will point campus wellness promoters in helpful directions for programmatic improvement.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Institution Selection Criteria

Ten four-year post-secondary institutions and five two-year post-secondary institutions were selected per country. This ratio was decided based on reports indicating that about half as many North American students enroll in two-year programs compared to four-year programs (Government of Canada, Statistics Canada, 2023; National Center for Education Statistics, 2021). Institutions with the highest enrollment numbers in each country were selected using American (National Center for Education Statistics, 2022) and Canadian (Colleges and Institutes Canada, 2023; Universities Canada, 2023) enrollment tracking sites. While population sizes differ considerably between the United States and Canada (Statistics Canada, 2024b; United States Census Bureau, 2024), we chose to investigate an equal number of institutions for each country to ensure we covered a sufficiently broad geographical base in Canada, and to offer a sufficient snapshot of how major post-secondary institutions in each country provide information about their initiatives.

2.1.1. Exclusion Criteria

Online-only or primarily online educational institutions were excluded as our focus is on on-campus physical activities and initiatives. Since students enrolled in online post-secondary institutions tend to pursue their education remotely, their access to and use of campus resources is heavily reduced compared to students at in-person institutions.

2.1.2. Additional Considerations

Institutions with multiple campuses were treated as a single campus/analytic unit. This allowed us to gather data in a fashion akin to how we expected students would navigate institutional websites, since they often conduct searches across entire sites before narrowing their focus to a specific campus.

Our research investigates physical activity promotion at post-secondary institutions through two key channels. The first is via a web search, analyzing Google and institutional webpage results to determine the availability of online physical activity and wellness information. Second, we analyze the main Instagram account of each institution over a one-year span (September 2022–August 2023) to determine the extent, accessibility, and content of physical activity promotion performed via the institution’s Instagram channels.

2.2. Physical Activity Web Search

In the initial search, data were gathered from two sources: first, a web-wide Google search, and second, from each institution’s home page search function. The search input was as follows: [name of institution] + [key word] = R1, with R1 being the results from this search. The key words were as follows: Fitness, Rec, Rec Sport, Sport, Gym, Wellness, and Physical Activity. An additional search was carried out by using the same format but adding the key word “opportunities” to the search. The results from this search are referred to as R2. One final search was performed to investigate physical activity initiatives at each institution. The search input was as follows: [name of institution] + “physical activity initiatives.” The results from this search are referred to as R3.

In each case, the first five results (or “hits”) were analyzed. If a result’s webpage title made direct mention of fitness, sport, or physical health and/or wellness, results were further investigated by going into the pages to analyze content.

2.3. Social Media Search

We also investigated each institution’s social media output for promotion of physical activity and wellbeing on campus. Social media were investigated due to the tendency of post-secondary students to find information about physical activities through social media (Idowu et al., 2024; Ori & Berry, 2020), which may be particularly relevant given 91% of Canadians aged 14–25 use social media (Statistics Canada, 2024a) and 71% of American 18- to 29-year-olds say they use Instagram (Auxier & Anderson, 2021).

Instagram was the social media site we chose to review as it has been found to be one of the most, if not the most, used social media sites by our focal demographic of 18–29-year-olds (Ortiz-Ospina, 2019; Pew Research Center, 2024; Zote, 2024). For this reason, as well as for the purpose of time limitations of the Lead Student Researcher and funding timeline, other social media sites were excluded from review. One year of social media posts were analyzed on each institution’s main Instagram page (September 2022–August 2023).

Data Analysis

Gathered data were first organized into themes using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six phases of thematic analysis: familiarization with the data, generation of initial codes, search for themes, review of themes, definition and naming of themes, and production of a research report. The types of information being provided on the compiled institution webpages were then further analyzed using qualitative document analysis (Altheide, 1996) when applicable. This process involves coding the data, comparing and contrasting key differences within each category and summarizing these differences, and combining the summaries with an example of both the typical case as well as the extremes (Altheide, 1996).

Instagram posts with visual and written reference to physical activity or wellness were tracked through visual analysis of posts, and by investigating for key themes in each post description. Posts were grouped into themes using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis and further supplemented with Altheide’s (1996) approaches to qualitative media analysis. Further, a Chi-Square analysis for independence was performed in order to determine significant differences in themes for online search results and social media posts between Canadian and American institutions.

3. Results

Our search criteria generated substantial relevant results, especially from Google searches, suggesting there is no dearth of campus-related physical health on institutional websites. However, a large proportion of results from institutional site searches tended to be related to physical activity focused courses, jobs, or ongoing research at the institution (which were thus not directly relevant to our search), leading to an often-significant difference in relevant hits between our Google and institutional search results. Canadian-based searches also had more total hits (n = 995) compared to American-based searches (n = 964). In contrast, more social media posts from American institutions fit into our search criteria (n = 174) than Canadian posts (n = 90).

3.1. Web Search

Five central themes, one with three sub-themes, vis-à-vis on-campus physical wellness activities and initiatives developed from our general web search. Listed in descending order of prominence, they are as follows:

1. Recreation: Rec sport and other physical activity opportunity links.

a. Activity Homepage: Links leading to general information pages regarding various physical activity opportunities on campus. Most often, these pages offered links to varsity, recreational sport, and general recreation and physical activity pages.

b. Sports and Clubs: Rec sport and other physical activity clubs or groups (e.g., sport intramurals).

c. Recreation (Activities): Other forms of physical activity opportunities outside of organized clubs (e.g., drop-in activities, fitness classes).

2. Gym/Facility: Information regarding the physical activity complexes on campus, including services and access to facilities.

3. Physical Wellbeing: Links to general on-campus fitness, counselling, nutrition, and other resources for developing and sustaining physical health.

4. Varsity: News and relevant information regarding the varsity teams.

5. Logistics: Links that concerned fitness class schedules, gym reservations and policies, fitness membership registration links, etc.

3.1.1. Overall Results

We had 4143 total relevant search results for both American and Canadian institutions. Of these results, 33.2% (n = 1377) of four-year institution searches had hits, and 14.1% (n = 582) of all two-year institution searches had hits.

Of the total hits (n = 1959), 65.1% (n = 1276) were Google searches, and 58.2% (n = 1141) were R1 searches ([name of institution] + [key word]). The key word with most hits was “Rec Sport” (19%, n = 373), followed by “Fitness” (17.6%, n = 344), and then “Gym” (15.7%, n = 308). “Physical Activity” had the least hits (7.2%, n = 140).

3.1.2. Results by Theme

Of the dominant themes, Recreation had 48% (n = 940) of all hits, with each of its subthemes having 24.6% (Homepage, n = 481), 13.8% (Sports and Clubs, n = 270), and 9.7% (Activities, n = 190) of all hits. Gym/Facility had 23.7% (n = 465) of all hits, Physical Wellbeing had 16.6% (n = 325) of all hits, Varsity had 6.2% (n = 121) of all hits, and Logistics had 5.4% (n = 106) of all hits.

Our Chi-Square analysis revealed a significant association between countries and the themes which appear most commonly in searches X2(4) = 70.67, p = 0. Of particular note, Canadian institutions had a greater appearance of Wellbeing themes (21.5%, n = 214) compared to American institutions (11.5%, n = 111), while American institutions had significantly higher rates of Varsity themes (9.4%, n = 91) compared to Canadian institutions (3%, n = 30). Individual results for each country can be found below.

We generated 2067 total search results for American institution searches (

Table 1. American institution web search.

		Google Search				Institution Search
Key Word	Theme	4-Year		2-Year		4-Year		2-Year		Total
		R1 *	R2 **	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
Fitness	Total Fitting Criteria	38	40	15	15	24	17	16	13	178
	1. Recreation	16	25	8	6	15	12	4	2	88
	a. Homepage	8	7	2	1	5	1	2	1	27
	b. Sports/Clubs	2	3	2	2	0	1	1	1	12
	c. Activities	6	15	4	3	10	10	1	0	49
	2. Varsity	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	4
	3. Gym/Facility	18	12	5	7	6	1	9	7	65
	4. Wellbeing	1	0	1	0	1	3	0	0	6
	5. Logistics	2	2	1	2	2	1	3	2	15
Rec	Total Fitting Criteria	33	21	12	11	15	10	9	6	117
	1. Recreation	18	17	6	6	5	8	4	3	67
	a. Homepage	13	11	4	1	1	3	1	1	35
	b. Sports/Clubs	4	6	2	5	1	5	3	2	28
	c. Activities	1	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	4
	2. Varsity	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2
	3. Gym/Facility	11	4	5	5	5	1	3	1	35
	4. Wellbeing	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	3
	5. Logistics	3	0	1	0	4	0	2	0	10
Rec Sport	Total Fitting Criteria	47	36	20	17	33	20	10	8	191
	1. Recreation	31	28	12	11	22	17	5	5	131
	a. Homepage	14	15	2	3	6	4	2	2	48
	b. Sports/Clubs	15	12	10	8	14	13	3	2	77
	c. Activities	2	1	0	0	2	0	0	1	6
	2. Varsity	4	1	2	1	1	1	2	0	12
	3. Gym/Facility	12	7	4	4	7	1	1	2	32
	4. Wellbeing	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	5. Logistics	0	0	2	1	3	1	2	1	10
Sport	Total Fitting Criteria	40	29	14	16	10	3	11	6	129
	1. Recreation	9	12	10	9	7	2	6	4	59
	a. Homepage	2	2	2	3	0	0	2	2	13
	b. Sports/Clubs	7	10	8	6	0	0	4	2	39
	c. Activities	0	0	0	0	7	2	0	0	9
	2. Varsity	30	15	4	6	3	1	4	2	65
	3. Gym/Facility	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
	4. Wellbeing	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	5. Logistics	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	0	3
Gym	Total Fitting Criteria	39	30	16	20	26	9	14	9	163
	1. Recreation	13	14	6	6	5	5	2	4	55
	a. Homepage	11	9	3	2	2	2	1	2	32
	b. Sports/Clubs	2	4	3	2	2	2	1	1	17
	c. Activities	0	1	0	2	1	1	0	1	6
	2. Varsity	3	1	0	0	1	0	1	1	7
	3. Gym/Facility	21	10	8	12	12	1	10	2	76
	4. Wellbeing	0	1	0	0	2	3	0	0	6
	5. Logistics	2	4	2	2	6	0	1	2	19
Wellness	Total Fitting Criteria	32	33	13	14	19	9	8	9	137
	1. Recreation	1	1	2	3	4	2	0	3	16
	a. Homepage	1	1	1	2	0	0	0	2	7
	b. Sports/Clubs	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	3
	c. Activities	0	0	0	0	4	1	0	0	5
	2. Varsity	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	3. Gym/Facility	5	3	4	4	5	0	3	3	27
	4. Wellbeing	26	29	6	6	10	8	4	2	91
	5. Logistics	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	1	4
Physical Activity	Total Fitting Criteria	7	13	9	8	4	2	3	3	49
	1. Recreation	1	7	7	6	1	2	2	3	29
	a. Homepage	1	3	3	2	1	2	1	2	15
	b. Sports/Clubs	0	3	2	2	0	0	1	1	9
	c. Activities	0	1	2	2	0	0	0	0	5
	2. Varsity	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
	3. Gym/Facility	4	4	2	2	1	0	1	0	14
	4. Wellbeing	2	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	5
	5. Logistics	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

* R1 are results from the search input: [name of institution] + [key word]. ** R2 are results from the search input: [name of institution] + [key word] + opportunities.

, Figure 1 and Figure 2). Of these results, 30.9% (n = 639) of four-year institution searches had hits, and 15.7% (n = 325) of all two-year institution searches had hits.

Of the total hits (n = 964), 55.7% (n = 537) were R1 searches ([name of institution] + [key word]), and 66.1% (n = 638) were Google searches. The key word with most hits was “Rec Sport” (19.8, n = 191) followed by “Fitness” (18.5%, n = 178), and then “Gym” (16.9%, n = 163). “Physical Activity” had the least hits (5.1%, n = 49).

Results by theme. Recreation had 46.2% (n = 445) of all hits, with each of its subthemes having 19.2% (Sports and Clubs, n = 185), 18.4% (Homepage, n = 177), and 8.7% (Activities, n = 84) of all hits. Gym/Facilities had 26% (n = 251) of all hits, Wellbeing had 11.5% (n = 111) of all hits, Varsity had 9.4% (n = 91) of all hits, and Logistics had 6.3% (n = 61) of all hits.

We generated 2076 total search results from Canadian institutions (

Table 2. Canadian institution web search.

		Google Search				Institution Search
Key Word	Theme	4-Year		2-Year		4-Year		2-Year		Total
		R1 *	R2 **	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
Fitness	Total Fitting Criteria	42	34	14	13	32	22	7	2	166
	1. Recreation	23	28	2	7	20	14	3	1	98
	a. Homepage	11	15	2	4	8	3	2	1	46
	b. Sports/Clubs	3	1	0	0	2	1	0	0	7
	c. Activities	9	12	0	3	10	10	1	0	45
	2. Varsity	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	3. Gym/Facility	18	5	10	6	9	3	3	1	55
	4. Wellbeing	0	0	2	0	1	2	0	0	5
	5. Logistics	1	1	0	1	2	3	1	0	9
Rec	Total Fitting Criteria	35	26	13	7	30	17	5	3	136
	1. Recreation	25	22	9	5	21	14	5	3	104
	a. Homepage	20	17	6	3	10	8	5	3	72
	b. Sports/Clubs	3	1	0	0	5	4	0	0	13
	c. Activities	2	4	3	2	6	2	0	0	19
	2. Varsity	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
	3. Gym/Facility	5	2	5	2	2	0	0	0	16
	4. Wellbeing	1	1	0	0	2	1	0	0	5
	5. Logistics	3	1	0	0	5	2	0	0	11
Rec Sport	Total Fitting Criteria	38	38	17	14	35	28	11	1	182
	1. Recreation	31	34	10	10	30	22	7	1	145
	a. Homepage	22	22	6	6	16	11	5	1	89
	b. Sports/Clubs	5	8	2	2	8	8	1	0	34`
	c. Activities	4	4	2	2	6	3	1	0	22
	2. Varsity	0	1	1	1	2	2	0	0	7
	3. Gym/Facility	5	2	4	3	1	1	1	0	18
	4. Wellbeing	1	1	1	0	1	1	1	0	6
	5. Logistics	1	0	1	0	1	2	2	0	7
Sport	Total Fitting Criteria	36	31	14	7	16	3	3	1	111
	1. Recreation	22	20	8	5	11	3	2	1	72
	a. Homepage	12	13	4	3	4	1	1	0	38
	b. Sports/Clubs	8	6	4	2	6	1	0	0	27
	c. Activities	2	1	0	0	1	1	1	1	7
	2. Varsity	9	6	2	1	4	0	0	0	22
	3. Gym/Facility	3	1	3	1	2	0	0	0	10
	4. Wellbeing	2	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	6
	5. Logistics	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	2
Gym	Total Fitting Criteria	40	21	16	8	33	10	14	3	145
	Recreation	11	7	3	2	6	3	3	3	38
	a. Homepage	10	5	2	2	4	3	3	2	31
	b. Sports/Clubs	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
	c. Activities	0	2	1	0	2	0	0	1	6
	Varsity	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Gym/Facility	27	12	12	5	22	5	10	0	93
	Wellbeing	1	2	1	1	3	1	1	0	10
	Logistics	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	3
Wellness	Total Fitting Criteria	38	33	20	15	28	10	15	5	164
	1. Recreation	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
	a. Homepage	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
	b. Sports/Clubs	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	c. Activities	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2. Varsity	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	3. Gym/Facility	4	1	0	0	1	0	2	1	10
	4. Wellbeing	28	30	19	13	25	10	13	4	140
	5. Logistics	6	1	1	1	2	0	0	0	11
Physical Activity	Total Fitting Criteria	22	25	11	10	12	3	7	1	91
	1. Recreation	8	13	5	6	3	0	0	1	36
	a. Homepage	5	10	2	5	3	0	0	1	26
	b. Sports/Clubs	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	c. Activities	3	3	3	1	0	0	0	0	10
	2. Varsity	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	3. Gym/Facility	5	3	2	2	1	0	0	0	13
	4. Wellbeing	8	9	4	2	8	2	7	0	40
	5. Logistics	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2

* R1 are results from the search input: [name of institution] + [key word]. ** R2 are results from the search input: [name of institution] + [key word] + opportunities.

, Figure 3 and Figure 4). Of these results, 52.7% (n = 738) of four-year institution searches had hits, and 38% (n = 257) of all two-year institution searches had hits.

Of the total hits (n = 995), 60.7% (n = 604) were R1 searches ([name of institution] + [key word]), and 64.1% (n = 638) were Google searches. The key word with the most hits was “Rec Sport” (18.3%, n = 182) followed by “Fitness” (16.7%, n = 166), and then “Wellness” (16.5%, n = 164). “Physical Activity” had the least hits (9.2%, n = 91).

Results by theme. Recreation had 49.7% (n = 495) of all hits, with each of its subthemes having 30.6% (Homepage, n = 304), 10.7% (Activities, n = 106), and 8.5% (Sports and Clubs, n = 85) of all hits. Gym/Facilities had 21.5% (n = 214) of all hits, Wellbeing had 21.5% (n = 214) of all hits, Logistics had 4.5% (n = 45) of all hits, and Varsity had 3% (n = 30) of all hits.

3.2. Social Media Search

Five central themes developed from our search. Listed in descending order of prominence, they are as follows:

1. Varsity: news, results, and other information pertaining to varsity sports on campus.

2. Sporting Accomplishments: news and other information celebrating the external (non-varsity) accomplishments of members or alumni of the institution.

3. Physical Activity Events: upcoming or ongoing physical activity programs, recreational activities, or events in which students can participate.

4. On-Campus Physical Wellness: information or posts pertaining to general physical wellbeing promotion or methods in which students can be active while on campus.

5. Other: posts that indirectly reflect physical wellness or activity on campus (e.g., cultural fairs involving dance, a parent weekend post involving photos of yoga and jogging on campus).

3.2.1. Overall Results

Three-point-five percent (n = 264) of all social media posts fit into our inclusion criteria, of which: 5% (n = 227) of four-year institution posts (n = 4536) fit into our search criteria; and 1.3% (n = 37) of two-year institution posts (n = 2920) fit into our search criteria.

Results by theme. Of our themes, Varsity made up 69.3% (n = 183) of all results, of which 48.6% (n = 89) were related in some capacity to American Football. On-Campus Wellness made up 13.4% (n = 22) of all results, Physical Activity Events made up 10.1% (n = 28) of all results, Sporting Accomplishments made up 9.5% (n = 25) of all results, and Other made up 3.7% (n = 6) of all results

Our Chi-Square analysis revealed a significant association between countries and the themes which occur on institutions’ social media X2(4) = 27.64, p < 0.001. Of particular note, American institutions’ posts had greater rates of Varsity themes (78.2%, n = 139) compared to Canadian institutions (48.9%, n = 44). On-Campus Wellness made up far more of Canadian institutions’ results (15.6%, n = 14) compared to American institutions’ (4.6%, n = 8). Individual results for each country can be found below.

In total, 4.2% (n = 174) of all American Institution posts (

Table 3. American institution media.

Theme	4-Year Institutions	2-Year Institutions	Total
Total Posts in 1 Year	2656	1530	4186
Posts Fitting Inclusion Criteria	162	12	174
1. Varsity	136	3	139
2. Sporting Accomplishments	11	1	12
3. Physical Activity Events	6	6	12
4. On-Campus Wellness	6	2	8
5. Other	3	0	3

) fit into our inclusion criteria, of which: 6.9% (n = 162) of four-year institution posts (n = 2656) fit into our search criteria; and 0.8% (n = 12) of two-year institution posts (n = 1530) fit into our search criteria.

Results by theme. (Figure 5) Of our themes, Varsity made up 78.2% (n = 139) of all American results, of which 54% (n = 75) were related in some capacity to American Football. Sporting Accomplishments made up 6.9% (n = 12) of all American results, Physical Activity Events made up 6.9% (n = 12) of all American results, On-Campus Wellness made up 4.6% (n = 8) of all American results, and Other made up 1.7% (n = 3) of all American results.

In total, 2.8% (n = 90) of all Canadian Institution posts (

Table 4. Canadian institution media.

Theme	4-Year Institutions	2-Year Institutions	Total
Total Posts in 1 Year	1880	1390	3270
Posts Fitting Inclusion Criteria	65	25	90
1. Varsity	36	8	44
2. Sporting Accomplishments	6	7	13
3. Physical Activity Events	14	2	16
4. On-Campus Wellness	6	8	14
5. Other	3	0	3

) fit into our inclusion criteria, of which: 3.5% (n = 65) of four-year institution posts (n = 1880) fit into our search criteria; and 1.8% (n = 25) of two-year institution posts (n = 1390) fit into our search criteria.

Results by theme. (Figure 6) Of our themes, Varsity made up 48.9% (n = 44) of all Canadian results, of which 31.8% (n = 14) were related in some capacity to American Football. Physical Activity Events made up 17.8% (n = 16) of Canadian results, On-Campus Wellness made up 15.6% (n = 14) of Canadian results, Sporting Accomplishments made up 14.4% (n = 13) of Canadian results, and Other made up 3.3% (n = 3) of Canadian results.

3.2.2. Physical Activity Initiatives

American four-year programs had four particular institutional physical activity initiatives (i.e., programs or events initiated by the institution to encourage and facilitate student physical wellness) come up across four different schools, while two-year programs had no institutional initiatives come up in our search. Canadian four-year programs had seven initiatives come up across five different schools, while two-year programs had three initiatives come up between three different schools.

Most descriptions of initiatives (63.6%, n = 7) were webpage oriented, meaning they did not have additional links to an in-depth PDF document. Only four Canadian initiatives (from one two-year institution and two four-year institutions) had comprehensive physical activity initiatives detailed in PDF format. These comprehensive initiatives (ranging from 16 to 41-page documents) involved action plans, targeted goals for improving physical wellness on campus, steps to achieve these goals, and calls to action. Two of these documents were strictly related to physical wellness, while the other two were focused on general wellbeing, with sections dedicated to physical wellness.

Of all initiatives, four suggested direct university staff involvement in aiding in student physical wellbeing, and four sought to improve physical health literacy. Three initiatives included physical activity related events or opportunities that repeated at a regular interval (ranging from weekly to yearly events), and another three initiatives offered rewards to students for participating in physical activity, ranging from free personal training sessions, recognition (i.e., being added to a “Walk Hall of Fame”), or even monetary rewards. Two were walking-related programs (i.e., designed to reduce sedentary activity by promoting walking opportunities and routes on and around campus), one was dedicated specifically to developing adaptive physical wellness programs for students with physical disabilities, and one was specific to varsity athlete success.

4. Discussion

Our research was framed through the following questions: How accessible is information about student post-secondary physical health activities and initiatives? What types of physical activities and initiatives are directly promoted by large post-secondary institutions? And if a student goes online to their institution’s webpage or social media, what are they likely to encounter vis-à-vis physical health content, in terms of volume of findings and thematic content? This research expands on previous investigations into on-campus physical activity initiatives (Faubert, 2009; Hatfield et al., 2022; Horacek et al., 2014; Milroy et al., 2012) that focused on a singular country (e.g., Canada or the United States) and tended to evaluate initiatives from an administrative lens. In particular, previous research has not sought to determine the accessibility and breadth of physical activity and initiative information available to post-secondary students, and has rather analyzed physical health initiative implementation success and methodology. This study has sought to fill this gap and attempt to assess whether a lack of accessible and relevant information may be a hurdle to students’ efforts at healthy living.

4.1. General Findings

Whereas websites for post-secondary institutions have ample and easily discoverable content about physical health activities and initiatives, their social media presence is much less focused on physical health content. Just under half of all searches for both information channels fit into our search criteria and had information that was topically relevant, yet only 3.5% of social media posts fit our criteria. This could imply—at the very least in terms of social media promotion—a lack of importance placed on students’ physical wellness by post-secondary institutions, especially considering most posts are related to varsity athletics rather than general physical wellbeing across the whole campus population. This lack of promotion could thus be acting as a deterrent to students becoming aware of and seeking out physical wellness activities and initiatives.

While we acknowledge that promoting physical wellness is not the key priority of these educational institutions, having less than 1% of all social media posts by all institutions in a one-year span relate to physical wellness or events (outside of sporting accomplishments that involve a very limited number of people) denotes a lack of physical health and wellness promotion. Future research could analyze this deficit further by comparing the promotion of physical wellness to mental wellness on institutions’ social media channels.

Regarding content themes, almost half of the hits fit into the “Recreation” theme, and nearly a quarter fit into the “Homepage” subtheme. While this is a significant portion of results, we feel that a large portion of search results directing students to a hub for physical activity information is nonetheless positive. This result demonstrates that institutional resources are often structured with such base pages directing students to more specific resources, and seems to suggest overall ease of accessibility of information. Additionally, despite our focus on physical dimensions of wellness, many of the search results involved mental wellbeing in some capacity. In fact, a portion of them—which did not fit into our inclusion criteria—spoke solely to mental wellbeing without any inclusion of physical wellness. Many other results spoke to a combination of both physical and mental/emotional wellness. This recurrent mesh of physical and mental/emotional wellness on institutional sites is likely due to the strong and frequent correlation between physical and mental/emotional wellness in the literature (Brown & Kwan, 2021; Brown et al., 2022; Murphy et al., 2022).

The wording of searches did not seem to have significant effect on our findings, with our R1 and R2 searches each making up roughly half of all web results. However, R2 searches did result in far more job and volunteer links that R1 searches. Furthermore, since there was so little prior knowledge in this area, we did not go into this research with a clear expectation of outcomes, but we believed we would have an easier time collecting institution data from the institution websites. It should be noted—somewhat ironically—that we had far more success finding data that fit our criteria through Google searches than searches within institution sites. 65.1% of all our web search results were Google searches, indicating that students may have a better chance of finding physical activity information about their home institution from searches outside of those institution sites (which had results focused more on related research or courses). This could be due to usability issues common with university websites, such as navigation, user interface design, and information and content quality (Yerlikaya & Onay Durdu, 2017). This may also reflect the need for a shift in communication methods by post-secondary institutions in regards to their physical activity information. Information within post-secondary sites seems to be “lost,” thereby ranking it lower than external search tools when scaled through Media Richness Theory (Daft & Lengel, 1986); students are required to use external resources to gain a broader depth of information on institutional physical activity information.

Overall, finding the information we were looking for on institutional web channels was relatively easy and straightforward, which suggests that accessibility of information is not a key factor preventing students from seeking out their campuses’ physical health activities or initiatives.

4.2. Variation by Country

While the Varsity theme made up the majority of relevant Instagram posts for both American and Canadian institutions, with a large portion being related to American football, American institutions had nearly 30% more of these kinds of posts, with over half being related to American football. Canadian posts related to football, by contrast, were just over 30%. Only 13% of American social media posts were related to physical activity and wellness in some capacity other than through organized sports, while relevant Canadian posts had almost three times that amount, with 36% of relevant posts relating to physical activity and wellness in a capacity outside of organized sport.

This result is also reflected in our web search where, within the Recreation theme, the most prevalent subtheme among American institutions was Sports & Clubs, followed by Homepage, and then Activities. In contrast, the most prevalent subtheme among Canadian institutions was Homepage, followed by Activities, and then, with nearly half the prevalence compared to American institutions, Sports & Clubs. The Varsity theme was also three times as prevalent in American institutions compared to Canadian ones. The prevalence of the Wellbeing theme was also twice as prevalent in Canadian institutions compared to their American counterparts. These variations in results between countries could be indicative of a variation in cultural priority (see, for instance, Gaudio, 2022; AFI News, 2023), with American institutions prioritizing sport success, and Canadian institutions prioritizing general physical wellness.

4.3. Variations Between Institutional Sites and Social Media

Compared to social media posts, our web searches had significantly more results that fit into our search criteria (3.5% versus 47.3%). While this is not surprising, it does show how little physical activity or wellness is promoted on institution Instagram platforms.

In regards to themes, both Instagram and web searches had a similar number of results pertaining to general physical wellness (13.4% versus 16.6%). However, institution Instagrams had a significantly higher percentage of Varsity related results than web searches (69.3% versus 6.2%). This could indicate that, when it comes to public promotion, varsity sports are viewed as more valuable than other forms of physical wellness.

4.4. Suggestions

Findings suggest that two major areas for improvement in online physical activity content merit attention from those who oversee campus web resources: the overall accessibility of content, and more balance through wellness-focused content pertaining to physical activity that is relevant to most students.

4.4.1. Improving Accessibility

Based on what some of the institutions in our sample have done themselves, we offer suggestions for improving the accessibility of campuses’ physical wellness resource information on their web platforms. First, we recommend that campuses’ online information channels offer easier access to infographics explaining the importance of physical activity to mental wellbeing, so that this easily findable information can then improve student understandings of their own health. Another way to improve physical wellness in the lives of busy students is to invest more effort in including content about and promoting movement breaks through web platforms. For example, posting short videos to be used between classes, providing a list of desk stretches for in-class time, or suggesting other forms of quick and easily accessible ways to reduce sedentary behavior. Information regarding physical wellness activities and opportunities could also be communicated to students through more directed means. Media Richness Theory (Daft & Lengel, 1986) expresses that more directed communication, such as information directly addressed to students, or shared face-to-face, improves the likelihood of this information being effectively communicated without misinterpretation. Thus, using institutional communication methods that directly engage students, such as site-wide notifications, directed emails, or by sharing information in-person in classrooms, could better engage students with using institutional site resources. Furthermore, having students pre-test websites before they go live could improve the effectiveness of institutional communication by identifying, through the students’ lens, where difficulties and losses in communication arise.

4.4.2. Addressing Gaps in Content and Themes

With a vast proportion of the American data fitting into varsity and sports themes, American institutions could benefit by increasing the number of posts related to physical activity and wellness in capacities other than through organized sports. This could allow for more visibility of relevant physical wellness opportunities for the majority of post-secondary students who are not varsity team members.

Our findings suggest that institutional Instagram accounts could benefit from offering increased promotion of physical wellness and activity outside of their narrow focus on posts about varsity level athletics. As varsity sport is an exclusive form of physical activity, many students—while perhaps passionate about it—are not directly involved in it except as spectators, and therefore do not gain physically from its widespread online promotion. While it is understandable to promote the sports that bring the most attention and prestige to postsecondary institutions, increasing the proportion of posts advertising other physical wellness endeavors is a viable way to encourage improved physical wellness and participation in such efforts on campus.

On an administrative level, physical activity initiatives or action frameworks should be more readily accessible to the larger institutional body by posting them online, should show evidence of input from students, and should include clear goals and steps towards progress. Regular reports on student and campus wellbeing should be made, and posted online, to keep track of factors that may improve or discourage on-campus wellness. And, since our results have shown that information pertaining to physical wellness and initiatives on campus was more easily accessible via external Google searches than internal searches on institutions’ sites, institutions could clearly seek to improve the accessibility of physical wellness information and initiatives through their own web platforms and search tools. Using previous research into post-secondary institution website usability (Yerlikaya & Onay Durdu, 2017) and gathering student feedback on usability would benefit this endeavor. While post-secondary institutions are often chronically tight on funds (Nietzel & Ambrose, 2024), having these initiatives in place—and having information about them easily accessible to students—is economically wise. Making information more accessible should result in making use/participation of activities and initiatives greater, which in turn means that the initiatives are more cost-efficient.

4.5. Limitations and Future Research

Our research does not come without some limitations. First, it was very difficult to find up to date information for enrollment numbers in two-year institutions, and some post-secondary tracking sites are not up to date or are confusing to navigate. To summarize, there is no streamlined data source for this information, and current student populations by school could vary somewhat from the data that informed our sample selection. Furthermore, our results may not best incapsulate the full post-secondary experience; our focus on the largest institutions may limit geographical and socioeconomic considerations. In addition, due to our selecting institutions based on enrollment size, other institutions with different approaches to physical activity and wellness and with a smaller student body may not be fully represented.

Variance in institutional website structure was also not analyzed, which could affect search results’ visibility. Analyzing variance in site structure could be an interesting expansion for future research. Expanding keyword searches would also be another viable direction for future investigation into this topic, as our use of specific keywords may exclude relevant information that was not explicitly labeled under those terms.

When it comes to our interest in social media inclusion of physical health content, while currently very popular, Instagram is not the sole social media channel for sharing information about physical health and wellness initiatives. Other social media sites may have health and wellness content that differ from what we found in our search. Additionally, web content is dynamic, and apt to constantly evolve throughout multiple searches and over the years. Future research could benefit by comparing content from multiple forms of social media in a method similar to that of this study, to determine whether health and wellness content varies by platform used. Social media sites future researchers should consider exploring include X, Facebook, and TikTok. Performing an analysis of how posts change thematically or otherwise evolve over the years could also be informative. It is also possible that the context of the year spanning a social media sample could also influence what is posted (e.g., a possible influx of athletics-based posts during an Olympic year).

Finally, we did not find that physical activity information was sparse or hard to find on postsecondary institutions’ webpages and through their social media outlets. As such, the question of why college students have a physical activity deficit (American College Health Association, 2019; Kwan et al., 2013; Weatherson et al., 2021) remains unanswered. It is clear that, although there is ample online health and wellness content, how this content translates into impacts on students’ lifestyles and health and wellness choices has major limitations. Future research should thus attempt to look directly at how, to what extent, and with which motivations students search for this type of information online, as well as whether there are special efforts made by post-secondary institutions to advertise such information (rather than just having it present online for the finding).

Future research could seek to enhance conclusions formulated in this article by including surveys, focus groups, or usability studies to directly assess student perceptions and experiences. Engaging students directly could allow for an expansion of understandings of best practices for wellness communication and student wellness engagement supported through broader student perspectives.