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Article History

Received: 28 November 2024

Accepted: 28 July 2025

First Online: 2 September 2025

Competing interests

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of City University of Macau (approval no. FIAD-20240218-003; approval date: 18 February 2024). The approved protocol covered all procedures involving human participants, including recruitment, informed-consent processes, administration of the Maslach Burnout Inventory–General Survey, interviews and implementation of the Happy Doodle Toolkit intervention. All methods were carried out in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and the relevant institutional and national regulations governing research with human participants. All data collected was kept strictly confidential and used solely for research purposes. The approval was obtained prior to participant recruitment and data collection, and the study involved adult employees only (no vulnerable populations).

: Written informed consent was obtained between 20 February and 25 March 2024 by the first author of this study, using a standardised information sheet approved by the IRB and filed in the study archive. At the initial stage of the research, workshops were held to provide participants with detailed information regarding the study’s objectives, procedures and their rights. All participants signed consent forms authorising the study to use anonymized data, including photographs of their participation in activities, interview transcripts and diaries, as well as to publish the findings. Participants were explicitly informed that their responses would remain strictly confidential and that all collected information would be used solely for analysis and publication purposes. They were also informed of their right to withdraw from the research at any time without any adverse consequences. This study did not involve minors or other vulnerable populations.