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Article History

Received: 19 November 2024

Accepted: 2 February 2026

First Online: 11 February 2026

Competing interests

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: This study did not require formal ethical approval, as it did not involve human participants in a manner necessitating review under institutional or national ethical regulations. According to Article 32 of the National Guidelines for Scientific Research Ethics Review ( ), research that involves human data or anonymized information—where there is no harm to participants, no sensitive personal information or commercial interests, and no relevance to life science or medical topics—is eligible for exemption from ethical review. This study fully complies with this criterion, as it focused on measuring participants’ perceptions of individual behaviors without collecting personally identifiable information or engaging in interventions that could pose risks to participants. Furthermore, all the respondents were at least 18 years old, and no vulnerable populations were involved. Given the nature of the study, no formal review or exemption was sought from an institutional review board.

: Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to data collection, between July 1 and September 10, 2023. All participants were informed about the aims of the research, the voluntary nature of participation, the anonymity of the data collected, and their right to withdraw from the study at any time. Electronic informed consent was obtained through a mandatory “I agree to participate” checkbox, and survey items were only displayed after participants clicked to indicate their consent. The consent process was clearly explained, and all participants were able to complete the survey voluntarily. No personally identifiable information was collected. The consent records were automatically logged, including the time of consent.