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Article History

Received: 2 August 2025

Accepted: 2 March 2026

First Online: 20 March 2026

Competing interests

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: This study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Ondokuz Mayıs University (Approval No. 2023-1255, dated 27 January 2023). All procedures involving human participants were conducted in accordance with institutional and national ethical guidelines and the Declaration of Helsinki. Verbal informed consent was obtained from all participants, as permitted by the ethics committee. Participants were reached through schools and local institutions—particularly in rural areas—where obtaining written consent was logistically impractical. Furthermore, considering the low literacy levels of some participants, verbal consent was deemed a more inclusive and ethical approach.

: In line with the ethics committee’s approval, verbal informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to data collection, which took place between 15 May and 15 July 2023. Each participant was clearly informed— using comprehensible and straightforward language—about the aim of the study, the voluntary nature of participation, the absence of personal data collection, and the exclusive academic use of the data. Only individuals aged 18 and over were included. Before completing the survey, participants verbally confirmed their understanding and willingness to participate. No personally identifiable information was collected at any stage. The verbal information script used during fieldwork is provided within the attached survey form.