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Article History

Received: 9 July 2024

Accepted: 28 October 2024

First Online: 17 November 2024

Competing interests

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: The survey conducted in this study adhered to the standards outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki. The Yonsei University Institutional Review Board granted ethical approval. Approval number: 202208-HR-2975-01. Date of approval: 15.08.2022, Scope of approval: All research variables in this study.

: Informed consent was obtained. Every participant was provided with information about the objective and extent of this study, as well as the intended utilization of the data. The respondents willingly and freely participated in the study. Their identities were kept confidential, and their involvement was optional. Prior to participating in the survey, all subjects included in the study provided informed consent. Informed consent was obtained from March 2022 to April 2022 through the website of the research company (Macromil Embrain). The scope of the consent covered participation, data use, and consent to publish. Online explanatory statement and documents related to exemption from written consent. Since the explanatory statement requires consent three times, it was submitted on the first, second, and third questionnaires. By default, written consent was waived. The reason for this is as follows. This survey was conducted through Macromil Embrain, a research company that has the largest panel in Korea (25 years of experience in the industry). Individuals belonging to the panel of Macromil Embrain registered in the company’s survey response system and agreed to provide their information and survey content. Then, they logged in to the system and responded to the survey. At this time, the research company announced the contents of the researcher’s survey, and panels interested in the survey participated in the survey. Alternatively, the research company asked those who were qualified to participate in the survey (e.g., office workers at a domestic company) via e-mail or text message about their intention to participate in the survey. This process was conducted entirely online, and it was practically impossible to obtain the consent of the research subjects because the researcher did not know which panel would respond to the questionnaire. Sufficient voluntary participation in research was ensured, and explanations regarding the guarantee of withdrawal and suspension of participation were supervised by the aforementioned research company. A research company manages this company’s website by asking for consent when an individual signs up and registers. When a person signs up for this company’s service as a panel, these matters are explained in detail, and consent is obtained. Only those who gave their consent participated in the survey. The condition for selecting study subjects was that they must have been adult employees working for domestic companies. If participants were adult employees working for a domestic company, there were no special conditions such as regular or non-regular workers. People excluded from the study were those who were not currently working or who did not have the intellectual ability to understand and respond appropriately to the questionnaire. Also, people with limited ability to give consent for research or those who were vulnerable were not included as research subjects. Only those panels who had voluntarily registered to participate in the survey with the research company (Macromil Embrain) took part in the survey. In particular, when issuing a recruitment notice, the general subject and risks of the study were noted, and personal privacy was ensured during recruitment. Steps were taken to ensure the protection and confidentiality of participants. We did not include vulnerable research subjects. Vulnerability could be judged voluntarily by survey respondents. In addition, only those who met the research company’s criteria (mentioned above) could participate in the survey. The process and contents of the second and third surveys were the same as in the first survey.