Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41239814›Full record

Trial reportEuropean journal of pain (London, England)2025

Optimising Treatment Expectations Using a Video-Based Intervention in Orthopaedic Surgery: Results From a Randomised Controlled Trial.

Simon F Zerth, Christian Volberg, Ann-Kristin Schubert, Vanessa Ketter, Monika Sadlonova, Frank Euteneuer, Winfried Rief, Stefan Salzmann

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in European journal of pain (London, England), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Trial
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Simon F ZerthDepartment of Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Philipps University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany.ORCID 0009-0001-7869-6349
Christian VolbergPhilipps University of Marburg, Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Marburg, Marburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-2008-0197
Ann-Kristin SchubertPhilipps University of Marburg, Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Marburg, Marburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-6712-3812
Vanessa KetterDepartment of Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery, Philipps University of Marburg, University Hospital Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
Monika SadlonovaDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany.
Frank EuteneuerDepartment of Psychology, Vinzenz Pallotti University, Vallendar, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-9346-4346
Winfried RiefDepartment of Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Philipps University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-7019-2250
Stefan SalzmannDepartment of Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Philipps University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-9597-0303

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPsychological interventions designed to optimise patients' treatment expectations have proven effective in surgical populations. Since these interventions are often resource-intensive, their clinical application is limited. We aimed to optimise treatment expectations in patients undergoing elective orthopaedic surgery with a brief video-based expectation-focused intervention. Additionally, the role of violated expectations was investigated exploratively.

methodsIn a three-arm randomised clinical trial, participants (N = 125) scheduled to undergo elective orthopaedic surgery received either an expectation-focused video intervention aiming at fostering realistically positive treatment expectations, an active control video or standard medical care. The primary outcome was pain intensity. Measurements were taken at baseline as well as on postoperative days one and seven.

resultsThe intervention group reported increased treatment expectations compared to the standard medical care and the control group. No significant intervention effect on pain intensity was found. Patients indicating negative postsurgical expectation violation (feeling worse than expected) reported higher pain intensity, regardless of the study condition. No differences in pain intensity were found between patients, indicating positive or no expectation violation (feeling better or exactly as expected respectively).

conclusionsPatients' treatment expectations can be optimised with a brief video-based intervention. However, the clinical relevance of this effect may be questionable. Postoperative pain intensity differed by expectation violation profiles. Avoiding a negative expectation violation might be a promising approach for expectation-focused interventions in surgical populations. SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings suggest that treatment expectations can be improved through a brief video-based intervention, though this did not translate into improved postoperative outcomes. These results underscore both the potential and the limitations of very brief expectation-focused approaches and can inform the refinement of such interventions.

trial registrationGerman ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: www.drks.de, ID: DRKS00031516.

Indexed as

Orthopedic ProceduresPostoperative PainAdultAgedElective Surgical ProceduresFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPain MeasurementPatient SatisfactionTreatment OutcomeVideo Recordingacute postsurgical painexpectationsexpectation violationpostoperative painpsychological interventionsurgery

Identifiers

PMID41239814
PMCPMC12619051

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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.