Table 3.

Quotes illustrating theme 2: Building a framework of understanding of genetics and assessing legitimacy of information

Quote number	Participant ID	Quote
1	FG3M-21	“When it comes down to genetics and DNA…I feel very sceptical whenever I approach something in the mass media way because the general gist of what they’re trying to do is be sensational about it. So that will be like, ‘they’re going to change your genetics and we’re going to have four heads’ and so then everyone like snaps it up and reads it, so there is a scepticism about that, but I like getting different points of view from lots of different places so yes, we are exposing ourselves to it on social media all the time so there are different articles and you can go and look at different viewpoints…”
2	FG5S-43	“…and the other thing is, I kind of have two baskets, a crap basket or a fact basket. And most of the stuff in the media goes into the crap basket.”
3	FG4M-29 FG4M-36	“I think an authoritatively written piece in a reputable source with preferably some reference to peer-reviewed research you’d have reasonable confidence in…” “You’ve got to be sceptical at times by what you read in newspapers because sometimes it just goes against what you already know, you know yes there could be a paradigm shift and they’ve moved somewhere else but I think you’ve got to get back to the basic research to find out what really is the case.”
4	FG5S-43	“The main thing that I look for… in looking for evidence is, particularly, if you’re talking about genetics, is, what’s the motivations of the people with actually putting information out there? What’s their, what’s their goal? Where do they get the funding from? Are they trying to sell something? So, it goes through those type of filters first, that, that level of cynicism, because not everything is altruistic. In fact, quite a lot isn’t…”
5	FG1M-5 SM FG1M-5 FG1M-4	“I don’t really read the newspaper, I’m more on the internet and stuff… I read it, but I don’t…believe, and if… it really interests me then I’ll put further effort into…looking it up and stuff, so if I…think it has value then I’ll search it into more detail [online]”…”I’ll check other sources, so I check… if it’s just one source then I’m like ooh, and then if there’s a couple of people saying it then I feel like it has some kind of value to it.” “So if more people say it, you’re more likely to believe it?” “Yeah…” “…yeah, I feel like if multiple people are sort of saying the same thing you have to sort of take it for what it is in a sense and if you’re really that concerned about it then go and talk to someone [expert]…”
6	FG3M-28	“I might go and get more detail from another place, find something with a dot ‘edu’ in it.”
7	FG6S-46	“Reputable…organisations, like via the Internet…. A government agency, yes, but, not, not government.”