ArticleFamily practice2014
Placebo use in the UK: a qualitative study exploring GPs' views on placebo effects in clinical practice.
Article in Family practice, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- How often do general practitioners use placebos and non-specific interventions? Systematic review and meta-analysis of surveys.PloS one · 2018Pooled it
- Article
- Talking placebo: a qualitative study of patients' attitudes toward open-label placebo implementation into clinical practice.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- A dose of doubt: a qualitative study on placebo regulations.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Noble Humbug? Hard and soft laws on clinical placebo use.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Harnessing placebo: Lessons from psychedelic science.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2023Review
- Article
- Harnessing Placebo Effects in Primary Care: Using the Person-Based Approach to Develop an Online Intervention to Enhance Practitioners' Communication of Clinical Empathy and Realistic Optimism During Consultations.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Open-label placebo clinical trials: is it the rationale, the interaction or the pill?BMJ evidence-based medicine · 2020Article
- Article
- Views and experiences of seeking information and help for vitiligo: a qualitative study of written accounts.BMJ open · 2018Article
- Psychotherapy and Placebos: Manifesto for Conceptual Clarity.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2018Article
- Placebos Without Deception: Outcomes, Mechanisms, and Ethics.International review of neurobiology · 2018Review
- What techniques might be used to harness placebo effects in non-malignant pain? A literature review and survey to develop a taxonomy.BMJ open · 2017Review
- Context as a drug: some consequences of placebo research for primary care.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2016Review
- Patient attitudes about the clinical use of placebo: qualitative perspectives from a telephone survey.BMJ open · 2016Article
- A discursive exploration of public perspectives on placebos and their effects.Health psychology openArticle
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 at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSurveys show GPs use placebos in clinical practice and reported prevalence rates vary widely.
aimTo explore GPs' perspectives on clinical uses of placebos. DESIGN AND
settingA web-based survey of 783 UK GPs' use of placebos in clinical practice.
methodsQualitative descriptive analysis of written responses ('comments') to three open-ended questions.
resultsComments were classified into three categories: (i) defining placebos and their effects in general practice; (ii) ethical, societal and regulatory issues faced by doctors and (iii) reasons why a doctor might use placebos and placebo effects in clinical practice. GPs typically defined placebos as lacking something, be that adverse or beneficial effects, known mechanism of action and/or scientific evidence. Some GPs defined placebos positively as having potential to benefit patients, primarily through psychological mechanisms. GPs described a broad array of possible harms and benefits of placebo prescribing, reflecting fundamental bioethical principles, at the level of the individual, the doctor-patient relationship, the National Health Service and society. While some GPs were adamant that there was no place for placebos in clinical practice, others focused on the clinically beneficial effects of placebos in primary care.
conclusionThis study has elucidated specific costs, benefits and ethical barriers to placebo use as perceived by a large sample of UK GPs. Stand-alone qualitative work would provide a more in-depth understanding of GPs' views. Continuing education and professional guidance could help GPs update and contextualize their understanding of placebos and their clinical effects.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.