Placebo Interventions in General Practice

NCT00603928 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: RRMA-5-07
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 600
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Physicians often have an ambivalent relationship to placebo interventions. On the one hand they know of the intriguing effect of sugar pills or saline infusions but on the other hand they mostly feel constrained to adopt scientifically proven, specific therapies for ethical reasons. Against the background of international literature one can assume that also Swiss general practitioners use several forms of placebo interventions in a significant part of their patients. The aim of the project is to ascertain to which extent and in which way Swiss general practitioners make use of placebo interventions. Furthermore knowledge of the mode of action of placebo interventions and the perceived moral and lawful permissibility of placebo interventions and the presumed attitudes of the patients will be investigated. The empicical core of the study is a questionnaire survey of general practitioners in urban and rural areas of Switzerland. The results and conclusions of the survey will be discussed during a workshop with interested GPs, researchers and ethicists. The obtained data will lead to a better understanding of the application of placebo interventions in the general practice in Switzerland (how often and in which manner, accompanied by what information, for which diseases and for which patient groups placebos are applied). Moreover the study will help to articulate potential moral ambiguities of physicians using placebo interventions.

Conditions

General Practitioners

Keywords

attitude; attitude of health personnel; ethics; bioethics; biomedical ethics; patient care; physicians; placebo effect; placebos; questionnaires; therapy; general practice

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

general practitioners and pediatricians in medical practice of the canton Zurich in Switzerland

You may qualify if:

• general practitioners and pediatricians in medical practice of the canton Zurich in Switzerland

You may not qualify if:

• no patient encounters

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Zurich: lead
• Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences (SAMS): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University of Zurich

Zurich, Switzerland

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Behavior

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: CASE ONLY
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 16, 2008
• First Posted: January 29, 2008
• Study Start: November 1, 2007
• Primary Completion: March 1, 2008
• Study Completion: March 1, 2008
• Last Updated: November 20, 2008

Record last verified: 2008-11

Locations

CH (1)