Participants and recruitment
RECRUITMENT, RECRUITMENT
To determine the sample size for this pilot study, recommendations from the relevant literature were adopted. Various studies have recommended overall trial sample sizes of 24–70 participantsTo be eligible for this study, participants had to be students of a private university in Southern Taiwan. The recruitment process was facilitated by the school’s health centre through emails sent to all students and LINE messages to members of the health centre’s volunteer group, which comprised volunteers from various departments. These members helped disseminate information through personal messages or face-to-face interactions, and their involvement was not limited to their respective departments. Recruitment posters were posted on campus bulletin boards in the meantime. Consequently, a total of 100 students who volunteered to participate were recruited and randomly allocated to the experimental and control groups, with fifty students per group. The random allocation was conducted using a computer-generated process, employing a random number generator to assign participants to either the experimental or control group. This method ensured unbiased assignment and minimised potential systematic biases in participant allocation. As the recruitment was based on the students’ free will, the participants were from thirty-one departments of the university, such as the Department of Accounting, Department of Tourism, Department of Electronics and Department of Management. After group randomisation, the research team sent individual participants an email explaining the research schedule, process, friendly reminders and remuneration. The incentives for the experimental and control groups were NT$ 500 (approximately US$ 16·8) and NT$ 100 (approximately US$ 3·4), respectively. Overall, two students withdrew mid-study owing to personal issues, and ninety-eight students completed the study (98 % retention rate).