Placebo prescription and empathy of the physician: A cross-sectional study

Background: Empathy in the patient-physician relationship is a major component in an effective placebo treatment, as in every medical treatment. Understanding the role of empathy of the physician in the placebo effect may help dissect some of the context variables responsible for the effectiveness o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The European journal of general practice 2017-12, Vol.23 (1), p.98-104
Main Authors: Braga-Simões, João, Costa, Patrício Soares, Yaphe, John
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Age Factors
Attitude of Health Personnel
Cross-Sectional Studies
Empathy
Family physicians
Female
general practice
General Practitioners - psychology
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Original
physician empathy
Physician-Patient Relations
Physicians - psychology
Placebo Effect
Placebo prescription
Portugal
Practice Patterns, Physicians' - statistics & numerical data
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:Background: Empathy in the patient-physician relationship is a major component in an effective placebo treatment, as in every medical treatment. Understanding the role of empathy of the physician in the placebo effect may help dissect some of the context variables responsible for the effectiveness of the placebo. Objectives: To determine the frequency of placebo prescription, doctors' beliefs, motivation, and attitudes to placebos in general practice in northern Portugal and to test the association between placebo prescription and physician empathy. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between November 2014 and January 2015 among general practice specialists and interns from 14 health centres in a northern Portuguese health region. The self-report questionnaire included the Portuguese version of the Jefferson scale of physician empathy (JSPE) and a questionnaire about placebo prescription. Associations between demographic variables, JSPE score, prescription of placebo, and the attitudes to placebo score were tested with the chi-squared statistic, student t-tests for independent samples, and Pearson correlation. Results: The study included 93 general practitioners (GP) (response rate: 74%). Placebos were prescribed by 73% (n = 68) of the respondents. GPs who prescribe placebo are significantly younger (mean age = 38.4 years; SD = 11.1; t (90) = 2.98, P 
ISSN:1381-4788
1751-1402
DOI:10.1080/13814788.2017.1291625