Talking placebo: a qualitative study of patients' attitudes toward open-label placebo implementation into clinical practice.

Background: For more than a decade, studies have supported the efficacy and safety of placebos without deception-so-called open-label placebos (OLPs)-to harness placebo effects in primary care while aligning with key ethical principles. Since treatment acceptance, feasibility, and successful implementation of novel interventions into clinical practice depend on patients' attitudes, patients' perspectives, perceived obstacles, and ideas on OLP use in clinical practice have yet to be elucidated. Therefore, patient and public involvement is increasingly demanded in research and its implementation into clinical practice.

Generative Artificial Intelligence in Primary Care: Qualitative Study of UK General Practitioners' Views.

Background: The potential for generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to assist with clinical tasks is the subject of ongoing debate within biomedical informatics and related fields.

Objective: This study aimed to explore general practitioners' (GPs') opinions about GenAI on primary care.

Methods: In January 2025, we conducted a web-based survey of 1005 UK GPs' experiences and opinions of GenAI in clinical practice.

General practitioners' opinions of generative artificial intelligence in the UK: An online survey.

Background: The rapid rise of large language model-based generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as chatbots and AI scribes, has prompted interest in their clinical applicability. This study examined the perspectives of (GPs) in the UK regarding the impact of generative AI on clinical practice.

Methods: In January 2025, a national online survey of 1005 GPs, stratified by region, was administered via the UK's largest clinical marketing platform.

Prevalence and types of errors in the electronic health record: protocol for a mixed systematic review.

Introduction: In countries with access to the electronic health record (EHR), both patients and healthcare professionals have reported finding errors in the EHR, so-called EHRrors. These can range from simple typos to more serious cases of missing or incorrect health information. Despite their potential detrimental effect, the evidence on EHRrors has not been systematically analysed.

Conditioned open-label placebos to facilitate opioid reduction in patients with chronic non-cancer pain: study protocol of a randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Chronic non-cancer pain presents a global health problem, with a significant increase in opioid prescriptions over recent decades. However, opioid therapy poses risks of adverse events, overdose and non-medical use. As a result, many patients seek to discontinue or reduce their opioid intake.

Efficacy of open-label placebos for premenstrual syndrome: a randomised controlled trial.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy and safety of open-label placebos (OLP) in premenstrual syndrome (PMS).

Design: Randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Switzerland, 2018-2020.

Painfully Sensitive: How Sensory Processing Sensitivity Affects Healthy Adolescents' Perception of Pain.

Objective: Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) describes a common trait characterized by lower sensory threshold, depth of processing, and ease of overstimulation. Low sensory threshold is also potentially important in the context of pain. To date, the relationship between SPS and pain perception has not been investigated, particularly in adolescents.

Generative artificial intelligence in primary care: an online survey of UK general practitioners.

Objectives: Following the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, interest in large language model-powered chatbots has soared with increasing focus on the clinical potential of these tools. We sought to measure general practitioners' (GPs) current use of this new generation of chatbots to assist with any aspect of clinical practice in the UK.

Methods: An online survey was distributed to a non-probability sample of GPs registered with the clinician marketing service Doctors.

Open notes in psychotherapy: An exploratory mixed methods survey of psychotherapy students in Switzerland.

Background: In a growing number of countries, patients are offered access to their full online clinical records, including the narrative reports written by clinicians (the latter, referred to as "open notes"). Even in countries with mature patient online record access, access to psychotherapy notes is not mandatory. To date, no research has explored the views of psychotherapy trainees about open notes.

Longitudinal Resilience and Risk Factors in Pediatric Postoperative Pain (LORRIS): Protocol for a Prospective Longitudinal Swiss University Children's Hospitals-Based Study.

Introduction: Chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP) is defined as pain that persists after a surgical procedure and has a significant impact on quality of life. Previous studies show the importance of psychological factors in CPSP, yet the majority of studies focused solely on negative emotions. This longitudinal observational study aims to broaden this knowledge base by examining the role of emotional state, emotion variability, emotion regulation and emotion differentiation on the child and the parent level for the development CPSP, and to describe pain and emotion-related trajectories following surgery.

Body reprogramming for fibromyalgia and central sensitivity syndrome: A preliminary evaluation.

Objectives: Central sensitivity syndrome disorders such as fibromyalgia, provoke continued debate, highlighting diagnostic and therapeutic uncertainty. The Hyland model provides a way of understanding and treating the medically unexplained symptoms of central sensitivity syndromes using complexity theory and principles of adaption in network systems. The body reprogramming is a multi-modal intervention based on the Hyland model designed for patients living with medically unexplained symptoms.

Using contextual factors to elicit placebo and nocebo effects: An online survey of healthcare providers' practice.

Contextual factor use by healthcare professionals has been studied mainly among nurses and physiotherapists. Preliminary results show that healthcare professionals use contextual factors without specifically labelling them as such. The main objective of this study was to evaluate knowledge and explore voluntary contextual factor use among various healthcare professions.

The roles of expectation, comparator, administration route, and population in open-label placebo effects: a network meta-analysis.

Three meta-analyses have demonstrated the clinical potential of open-label placebos (OLPs). However, there is a need to synthesize the existing evidence through more complex analyses that would make it possible to answer questions beyond mere efficacy. Such analyses would serve to improve the understanding of why and under what circumstances OLPs work (e.

Animal-Assisted Psychotherapy for Pediatric Chronic Pain: Case Series of an Open Pilot Study to Test Initial Feasibility and Potential Efficacy.

Objective: Chronic pain is a common complaint in children and adolescents, placing an enormous burden on individuals, their families, and the healthcare system. New innovative approaches for the treatment of pediatric chronic pain (PCP) are clearly warranted, as drop-out rates in intervention studies are high and it can be difficult to engage patients with PCP in therapy. Here, animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) might be promising, since there is preliminary evidence for the approach in adults with chronic pain, and AAIs are generally known to foster the therapeutic motivation of patients.

Lay Perspectives on Empathy in Patient-Physician Communication: An Online Experimental Study.

Research indicates that patients consider empathy as a key factor contributing to the quality-of-care. However, ambiguities in the definition of this multidimensional construct complicate definite conclusions to-date. Addressing the challenges in the literature, and using a hypothetical physician-patient interaction which explored patient-perceived differences between expressions of affective empathy, cognitive empathy, compassion and no empathy, this study aimed to test whether lay participants' evaluations of the quality-of-care depend on the type of empathic physician behavior, and on the physician's gender.

Imaginary pills and open-label placebos can reduce test anxiety by means of placebo mechanisms.

Placebos have been shown to be beneficial for various conditions even if administered with full transparency. Hence, so-called open-label placebos (OLPs) offer a new way to harness placebo effects ethically. To take this concept one step further, this study aimed at evaluating placebo effects without the use of a physical placebo, i.

Replication crisis and placebo studies: rebooting the bioethical debate.

A growing body of cross-cultural survey research shows high percentages of clinicians report using placebos in clinical settings. One motivation for clinicians using placebos is to help patients by capitalising on the placebo effect's reported health benefits. This is not surprising, given that placebo studies are burgeoning, with increasing calls by researchers to ethically harness placebo effects among patients.

Deceptive and open-label placebo effects in experimentally induced guilt: a randomized controlled trial in healthy subjects.

Placebos are known to yield significant effects in many conditions. We examined deceptive and open-label placebo effects on guilt, which is important for self-regulation and a symptom of mental disorders. Following an experimental induction of guilt, healthy subjects were randomized to deceptive placebo (DP; n = 35), open-label placebo (OLP; n = 35), or no treatment (NT; n = 39).

Mapping the availability of translated versions of posttraumatic stress disorder screening questionnaires for adults: A scoping review.

The most used questionnaires for PTSD screening in adults were developed in English. Although many of these questionnaires were translated into other languages, the procedures used to translate them and to evaluate their reliability and validity have not been consistently documented. This comprehensive scoping review aimed to compile the currently available translated and evaluated questionnaires used for PTSD screening, and highlight important gaps in the literature.