ArticlePEC innovation2025
The effect of clinician-expressed empathy and nocebo-alleviating information on breast-cancer-patients' anxiety and side effects during active chemotherapy: A clinical feasibility study.
Article in PEC innovation, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 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
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Nocebo effects in long-term health conditions: a systematic review of experimental studies.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Qualitative study on body image disturbance in young and middle-aged women with breast cancer in China.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Learning from brilliant failures.PEC innovation · 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
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: We set up a pilot-study to investigate main and interaction effects of nocebo-alleviating information and clinician-expressed empathy delivered via a standardized information-video on breast cancer patients' psychological and side effect outcomes during chemotherapy. Additionally, we aimed to reflect on the feasibility of the intervention (acceptability, practicality and integration) to inform future - follow-up - studies. Methods: Using a clinical proof-of-principle randomized controlled trial, female breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy viewed one of four videos, varying in the level of nocebo-alleviating information(+/-) and clinician-expressed empathy(+/-). Due to the small sample size ( Results: The interventions appeared to yield limited effects on our small sample. Feasibility reflections mainly focused on the practical level, such as the use of more generalizable videos and optimizing the flow. Conclusion: The study showed limited effects of the video intervention. It revealed recruitment challenges, while acceptability was high after inclusion. Moving forward, face-to-face clinician-patient interactions remain important, while cautiously exploring the potential benefits of modern technological advancements, ensuring thorough testing of their effects before implementation. Innovation: This study marks an innovative approach in utilizing digital interventions to enhance cancer patient outcomes within clinical settings.
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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.