Placebo Interventions in General Practice

General Practitioners Clinical Trial

Official title:

Placebo Interventions in General Practice

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00603928
• Other study ID #: RRMA-5-07
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: January 16, 2008
• Last updated: November 19, 2008
• Start date: November 2007
• Est. completion date: March 2008

Study information

• Verified date: November 2008
• Source: University of Zurich
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: Switzerland: Swissmedic
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial 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.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 600
• Est. completion date: March 2008
• Est. primary completion date: March 2008
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: Both
• Age group: N/A and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

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

Exclusion Criteria:

• no patient encounters

Study Design

Observational Model: Case-Only, Time Perspective: Prospective

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• General Practitioners

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Switzerland	University of Zurich	Zurich

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Zurich	Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences (SAMS)

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Switzerland, 

External Links

•   Link