ArticleBritish journal of health psychology2020
Primary care providers' use of and attitudes towards placebos: An exploratory focus group study with US physicians.
Article in British journal of health psychology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses 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.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic qualitative review of ethical issues in open label placebo in published research.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- Open-label placebos-a systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental studies with non-clinical samples.Scientific reports · 2023Pooled it
- Trial
- Noble Humbug? Hard and soft laws on clinical placebo use.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- 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
- Teenagers' and parental attitudes towards the use of placebo pills.European journal of pediatrics · 2023Article
- Placebo: a brief updated review.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2022Review
- How orthopedic surgeons view open label placebo pills: Ethical and effective, but opposed to personal use.Journal of psychosomatic research · 2021Article
- Treating Pain With Open-Label Placebos: A Qualitative Study With Post-Surgical Pain Patients.The journal of pain · 2021Article
- Placebo Studies and Patient Care: Where Are the Nurses?Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- Putting the 'Art' Into the 'Art of Medicine': The Under-Explored Role of Artifacts in Placebo Studies.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 9 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo examine how primary care physicians define placebo concepts, use placebos in clinical practice, and view open-label placebos (OLPs).
designSemi-structured focus groups that were audio-recorded and content-coded.
methodsTwo focus groups with a total of 15 primary care physicians occurred at medical centres in the New England region of the United States. Prior experience using placebo treatments and attitudes towards open-label placebos were explored. Themes were analysed using an inductive data-driven approach.
resultsPhysicians displayed a nuanced understanding of placebos and placebo effects in clinical contexts which sometimes focused on relational factors. Some respondents reported that they prescribed treatments with no known pharmacological effect for certain conditions and symptoms ('impure placebos') and that such prescriptions were more common for pain disorders, functional disorders, and medically unexplained symptoms. Opinions about OLP were mixed: Some viewed OLPs favourably or considered them 'harmless'; however, others strongly rejected OLPs as disrespectful to patients. Other issues in relation to OLPs included the following: lack of guidelines, legal and reputational concerns, and the notion that such treatments would run counter to customary medical practice.
conclusionsA number of physicians reported prescribing impure placebos in clinical care. Although some primary care physicians were resistant to the possibility of recommending OLPs, others regarded OLPs more favourably, viewing them as potential treatments, albeit with restricted potential. Statement of contribution What is already known? Many physicians report prescribing drugs for the purposes of eliciting a placebo effect. Initial evidence for the efficacy of open-label placebos is promising. What does this study add? A more nuanced description of the circumstances under which primary care physicians report placebo prescribing. A qualitative account of physician attitudes about using open-label placebos in clinical practice.
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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.