SynthesisJournal of general internal medicine2012
The validity of using analogue patients in practitioner-patient communication research: systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of general internal medicine, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effects of Physicians' Information Giving on Patient Outcomes: a Systematic Review.Journal of general internal medicine · 2022Pooled it
- To what extent should doctors communicate diagnostic uncertainty with their patients? An empirical ethics vignette study.Journal of medical ethics · 2025Trial
- The Effect of a Surgeon Communication Strategy on Treatment Preference for Thyroid Cancer: A Randomized Trial.Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making · 2025Trial
- Toward a therapeutic relationship: A randomized control trial of the physical environment and client-centered communication in genetic counseling.Journal of genetic counseling · 2025Trial
- Optimistic vs Pessimistic Message Framing in Communicating Prognosis to Parents of Very Preterm Infants: The COPE Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2024Trial
- How healthy participants value additional diagnostic testing with amyloid-PET in patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment - a bidding game experiment.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2023Trial
- Identifying best practices for disclosure of amyloid imaging results: A randomized controlled trial.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2023Trial
- Fostering Patient Choice Awareness and Presenting Treatment Options Neutrally: A Randomized Trial to Assess the Effect on Perceived Room for Involvement in Decision Making.Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making · 2022Trial
- Communicating the diagnosis of cancer or depression: Results of a randomized controlled online study using video vignettes.Cancer medicine · 2021Trial
- Effect of Physician Gender and Race on Simulated Patients' Ratings and Confidence in Their Physicians: A Randomized Trial.JAMA network open · 2020Trial
- Studying medical communication with video vignettes: a randomized study on how variations in video-vignette introduction format and camera focus influence analogue patients' engagement.BMC medical research methodology · 2018Trial
- The impact of physicians' communication styles on evaluation of physicians and information processing: A randomized study with simulated video consultations on contraception with an intrauterine device.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2017Trial
- Effect of Clinicians' Empathetic Communication on Anxiety: A Randomized Video Vignette Study.Journal of general and family medicine · 2026Article
- Physician Emotion and Self-disclosure in Serious Illness Conversations: Impact on Trust, Compassion, Professionalism and Comfort.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- What is Artificial Intelligence (AI) "Empathy"? A Study Comparing ChatGPT and Physician Responses on an Online Forum.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Key Information Influencing Patient Decision-Making About AI in Health Care: Survey Experiment Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Does Provider's Supportive Communication Enhance Trust and Treatment Adherence Attitudes in Mild and Severe Dysfunction Scenarios? A Web-Based Experimental Study.Patient preference and adherence · 2026Article
- Comforting styles of serious illness conversations: a Swiss wide factorial survey study.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Measuring the therapeutic bond in genetic counseling: Testing measurement error in the bond subscale of the Working Alliance Inventory.Journal of genetic counseling · 2025Article
- How Patients With Cancer Use the Internet to Search for Health Information: Scenario-Based Think-Aloud Study.JMIR infodemiology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
When studying the patient perspective on communication, some studies rely on analogue patients (patients and healthy subjects) who rate videotaped medical consultations while putting themselves in the shoes of the video-patient. To describe the rationales, methodology, and outcomes of studies using video-vignette designs in which videotaped medical consultations are watched and judged by analogue patients. Pubmed, Embase, Psychinfo and CINAHL databases were systematically searched up to February 2012. Data was extracted on: study characteristics and quality, design, rationales, internal and external validity, limitations and analogue patients' perceptions of studied communication. A meta-analysis was conducted on the distribution of analogue patients' evaluations of communication. Thirty-four studies were included, comprising both scripted and clinical studies, of average-to-superior quality. Studies provided unspecific, ethical as well as methodological rationales for conducting video-vignette studies with analogue patients. Scripted studies provided the most specific methodological rationales and tried the most to increase and test internal validity (e.g. by performing manipulation checks) and external validity (e.g. by determining identification with video-patient). Analogue patients' perceptions of communication largely overlap with clinical patients' perceptions. The meta-analysis revealed that analogue patients' evaluations of practitioners' communication are not subject to ceiling effects. Analogue patients' evaluations of communication equaled clinical patients' perceptions, while overcoming ceiling effects. This implies that analogue patients can be included as proxies for clinical patients in studies on communication, taken some described precautions into account. Insights from this review may ease decisions about including analogue patients in video-vignette studies, improve the quality of these studies and increase knowledge on communication from the patient perspective.
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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.