Statistical analysis
G*Power 3.1.9.2 (Franz Faul, Universitat Kiel, Germany) was used to calculate the sample size. Assuming an effect size of 1.35 (according to Fong et al. [SPSS version 27 (IBM, Armonk, NY) was used for data analysis. Missing data were handled by applying the intention-to-treat principle (last observation carried forward). Descriptive statistics were used to describe all variables, and data normality was confirmed using histograms. The between-group differences in the demographic characteristics and outcome variables at baseline were compared using the independent 