Placebo Interventions in General Practice

Completed

• Conditions: General Practitioners

• Registration Number: NCT00603928
• Lead Sponsor: University of Zurich

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.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2007-11
• Study First Submitted: 2008-01-16
• Study First Submitted QC: 2008-01-28
• Study First Posted: 2008-01-29
• Primary Completion: 2008-03
• Study Completion: 2008-03
• Status Verified: 2008-11
• Last Update Submitted: 2008-11-19
• Last Update Posted: 2008-11-20

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 600

Inclusion Criteria

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

Exclusion Criteria

• no patient encounters

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Zurich; 🇨🇭 Zurich, Switzerland