ArticleAnnals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine2021
Using Positive Attribute Framing to Attenuate Nocebo Side Effects: A Cybersickness Study.
Article in Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effectiveness of virtual reality in people with osteoporosis or osteopenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Pooled it
- Mitigating the Nocebo Effect in Biosimilar Use and Switching: A Systematic Review.Pharmaceutical medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Cluster-Randomised Controlled Trial of At-Home Virtual Reality for People With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain on the Waiting List.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2025Trial
- Positive social modeling attenuates nocebo side effects.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2025Trial
- The influence of message framing on nocebo headaches: Findings from a randomized laboratory design.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2022Trial
- The Impact of Expectations and Framing on the course of Symptom Severity in Somatic Symptom Disorder-Ecological Momentary Assessment from the SOMA.SSD Study.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2026Article
- Effects of likelihood framing on side effect expectations and nocebo side effects: Results from three experimental studies with a placebo analgesic cream.British journal of health psychology · 2026Article
- The effect of attribute framing on beliefs and attitudes toward branded and generic medications.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2025Article
- Optimized communication during risk disclosure to reduce nocebo headache after lumbar puncture-a study protocol for a randomized controlled clinical trial.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Identifying the psychological effects of nocebo education: results from two pre-registered experiments.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2024Article
- Socially Acquired Nocebo Effects Generalize but Are Not Attenuated by Choice.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2023Article
- Peer-to-peer: The Social Transmission of Symptoms Online.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2023Article
- Article
- Immunization stress-related responses: Implications for vaccination hesitancy and vaccination processes during the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of anxiety disorders · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSide effect warnings can contribute directly to their occurrence via the nocebo effect. This creates a challenge for clinicians and researchers, because warnings are necessary for informed consent, but can cause harm. Positive framing has been proposed as a method for reducing nocebo side effects whilst maintaining the principles of informed consent, but the limited available empirical data are mixed. PURPOSE: To test whether positive attribute framing reduces nocebo side effects relative to negative framing, general warning, and no warning.
methodsNinety-nine healthy volunteers were recruited under the guise of a study on virtual reality (VR) and spatial awareness. Participants were randomized to receive positively framed ("7 out of 10 people will not experience nausea"), negatively framed ("3 out of 10 people will experience nausea"), general ("a proportion of people will experience nausea"), or no side effect warnings prior to VR exposure.
resultsReceiving a side effect warning increased VR cybersickness relative to no warning overall, confirming that warnings can induce nocebo side effects. Importantly, however, positive framing reduced cybersickness relative to both negative framing and the general warning, with no difference between the latter two. Further, there was no difference in side effects between positive framing and no warning.
conclusionsThese findings suggest that positive framing not only reduces nocebo side effects relative to negative framing and general warnings, but actually prevents nocebo side effects from occurring at all. As such, positive attribute framing may be a cheap and ethical way to reduce nocebo side effects.
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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.