Document is current

Article History

Received: 25 July 2025

Accepted: 2 June 2026

First Online: 5 June 2026

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate: As this survey targeted government municipalities and did not involve individual data collection, formal approval by an ethical review committee was not obtained. However, the following ethical procedures were carefully followed. A document was provided to each municipality explaining: (1) the protection of privacy, with assurance that published results would be aggregated to ensure anonymity; (2) that participation was entirely voluntary, with no direct benefits or disadvantage for responding or not responding; and (3) the methods for disseminating the study’s findings, including planned dissemination through peer-reviewed academic journals, presentations at national public health and dementia-related conferences, and summary reports shared with participating municipalities. Municipalities were asked to indicate their consent by checking a designated box before completing the questionnaire. The voluntary return of the questionnaire also implied consent to participate. Participation in the survey was voluntary. All municipalities were informed about the purpose of the study, data protection measures, and the intended use of results. Consent was indicated by checking a designated box prior to survey completion and was further implied by the return of the completed questionnaire.

Consent for publication: Not applicable.

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.