ArticleBMC public health2021
Unwillingness to engage in behaviors that protect against COVID-19: the role of conspiracy beliefs, trust, and endorsement of complementary and alternative medicine.
Article in BMC public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 78 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
78 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 164 citations in OpenAlex.
- Contemporary trends in psychological research on conspiracy beliefs. A systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Pooled it
- Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: A systematic review.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2022Pooled it
- The use of complementary and traditional medicine for the treatment of patients with COVID-19: A systematic review.Explore (New York, N.Y.)Pooled it
- Trial
- The good, the bad, and the ugly: A qualitative evaluation of web-based COVID-19 vaccine communication in Canada.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2025Article
- The Promotion of Preventive Behaviours in Healthcare Services: A Quantitative Study Among Older Adults in Spain.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2025Article
- Assessing the role of conspiracy beliefs in oncological treatment decisions: An experimental approach.Applied psychology. Health and well-being · 2025Article
- Use of complementary medicine and uptake of COVID-19 vaccination among US adults.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Communicating and complying with COVID-19 actions in northernmost Finland.International journal of circumpolar health · 2024Article
- Conspiracy narratives and vaccine hesitancy: a scoping review of prevalence, impact, and interventions.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Association between beliefs in medical conspiracy theories and health behaviors among medical and healthcare students. Implications for professional practice.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Trust in COVID-19 information sources and vaccination status: Exploring social inequalities and differences within the four United Kingdom nations using a representative survey.Journal of health services research & policy · 2024Article
- Difficulties faced by physicians from four European countries in rebutting antivaccination arguments: a cross-sectional study.BMJ public health · 2024Article
- Article
- Covid-19 skepticism and public health norms during refugee assistance: does skepticism always lead to poor safety protocol adherence?BMC public health · 2024Article
- Undermining support for COVID-19 public health policies: an analysis of the impact of subversive conspiracy narratives on Czech General Practitioners.European journal of public health · 2024Article
- Vaccine hesitancy among physicians: a qualitative study with general practitioners and paediatricians in Austria and Germany.BMJ open · 2024Article
- Heritage and hesitancy: how preference for traditional Chinese medicine influences vaccine attitudes.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Hesitant or not: A cross-sectional study of socio-demographics, conspiracy theories, trust in public health information, social capital and vaccine hesitancy among older adults in Ghana.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2023Article
- Exploring COVID-19 conspiracy theories: education, religiosity, trust in scientists, and political orientation in 26 European countries.Scientific reports · 2023Article
18 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWe investigated if people's response to the official recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with conspiracy beliefs related to COVID-19, a distrust in the sources providing information on COVID-19, and an endorsement of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).
methodsThe sample consisted of 1325 Finnish adults who filled out an online survey marketed on Facebook. Structural regression analysis was used to investigate whether: 1) conspiracy beliefs, a distrust in information sources, and endorsement of CAM predict people's response to the non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) implemented by the government during the COVID-19 pandemic, and 2) conspiracy beliefs, a distrust in information sources, and endorsement of CAM are related to people's willingness to take a COVID-19 vaccine.
resultsIndividuals with more conspiracy beliefs and a lower trust in information sources were less likely to have a positive response to the NPIs. Individuals with less trust in information sources and more endorsement of CAM were more unwilling to take a COVID-19 vaccine. Distrust in information sources was the strongest and most consistent predictor in all models. Our analyses also revealed that some of the people who respond negatively to the NPIs also have a lower likelihood to take the vaccine. This association was partly related to a lower trust in information sources.
conclusionsDistrusting the establishment to provide accurate information, believing in conspiracy theories, and endorsing treatments and substances that are not part of conventional medicine, are all associated with a more negative response to the official guidelines during COVID-19. How people respond to the guidelines, however, is more strongly and consistently related to the degree of trust they feel in the information sources, than to their tendency to hold conspiracy beliefs or endorse CAM. These findings highlight the need for governments and health authorities to create communication strategies that build public trust.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.