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Article History

Received: 1 August 2024

Accepted: 12 March 2025

First Online: 11 May 2025

Competing interests

: Ngai was a member of the Editorial Board of this journal at the time of acceptance for publication. The manuscript was assessed in line with the journal’s standard editorial processes, including its policy on competing interests.

: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Ref. HSEARS20230527002) and was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The approval was granted on May 28, 2023 and covered research involving adult participants through surveys conducted in the Chinese mainland. Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to their participation. Access to participant information was restricted to authorized personnel, and data encryption was implemented to safeguard privacy and ensure confidentiality.

: Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to their participation in this study. Written consent was collected between June and July 2023 by the first author, with the assistance of WenJuanXing, from participants who had prior experience with online medical consultations concerning cancer treatment risks. The informed consent covered participation in the study, the use of data for research purposes, and consent for publication. Participants were fully informed about the nature of the study, including its objectives, methods, and intended outcomes. This study involved non-interventional research using questionnaires for data collection. All participants were assured of their anonymity. They were informed about the purpose of the research, how their data would be utilized, and that there were no risks associated with their participation.