Table 1.

Target health beliefs included in this study.

Topic Area
Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Herbal remedies are effective in treating the common cold (herbal–cold)
Chiropractic therapy is an effective treatment for backpain (chiropractic–backpain)
Acupuncture is an effective treatment for prolonged pain (acupuncture–pain)
Controversial beliefs about modern technology and medicine
Childhood vaccination causes autism (vaccination–autism)
Exposure to wind turbines can cause adverse health effects including memory loss, disturbed sleep and headaches (even when the turbine cannot be heard) (wind turbine syndrome)
Radiation from mobile phones and WIFI causes cancer (WIFI–cancer)
Beliefs relating to general lifestyle
Prolonged smoking causes heart, lung and breathing problems (smoking–breathing)
Regular exercise increases lifespan (exercise–lifespan)
Practicing a restrictive diet can make you feel better (diet–feel better)

Note: Shorthand notation for each causal belief is presented in parentheses and will be used to denote the respective causal association throughout the paper.