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Article History

Received: 24 November 2024

Accepted: 7 May 2025

First Online: 18 May 2025

Declarations

:

: The Institutional Review Board (IRB) and ethics committee of Oulu University Hospital and the Northern Ostrobothnia Hospital District waived the need for ethical approval as well as a signed written informed consent from the participants. The survey is in accordance with the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK guidelines 2019 and with the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki. According to the research policies of the University of Oulu and Oulu University of Applied Sciences, an IRB permit is waived for studies that use general student surveys without requesting personal data. Since this study survey contained indirect identifiers, a preliminary data protection assessment and notice were submitted to the National Data Protection Ombudsman, which was approved by a data protection specialist and administrative head at Oulu University and Oulu University of Applied Sciences. Data collection adhered to EU GDPR standards and to the Finnish legislation, the Act on the Protection of Privacy in the Processing of Personal Data (1050/2018). A student register information request was filed via the University of Oulu’s digital services (for medical and technical students), and a survey permit was obtained through the Oulu University of Applied Sciences’ system (for health science students). No additional research permit was required.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests.