MedTrace Logo

Placebo Interventions in General Practice

NCT00603928 · Status: COMPLETED · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 600

Last updated 2008-11-20

No results posted yet for this study

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

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences (SAMS)

    collaborator OTHER

  • University of Zurich

    lead OTHER

Eligibility

Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2007-11-30
Primary Completion
2008-03-31
Completion
2008-03-31

Countries

  • Switzerland

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT00603928 on ClinicalTrials.gov