title: Placebo Use in Pain Management: A Mechanism-Based Educational Intervention Enhances Placebo Treatment Acceptability.
abstract: Health care providers use treatments whose effectiveness derives partially or completely from 'nonspecific' factors, frequently referred to as placebo effects. Although the ethics of interventional placebo use continues to be debated, evidence suggests that placebos can produce clinically meaningful analgesic effects. Burgeoning evidence suggest that patients with chronic pain might be open to placebo treatments in certain contexts despite limited knowledge of their well-established psychoneurobiological underpinnings. In this investigation we sought to examine the effects of a brief, mechanism-based placebo analgesia educational intervention on aspects placebo knowledge and acceptability. Participants with chronic musculoskeletal pain completed a web-based survey in which they rated their knowledge of placebo analgesia, assessed placebo acceptability across different medical contexts, and evaluated 6 unique patient-provider treatment scenarios to assess the role of treatment effectiveness and deception on patient-provider attributions. Using a pre-post design, participants were randomized to receive either a placebo educational intervention or an active control education. Results showed that the educational intervention greatly improved perceptions of placebo knowledge, effectiveness, and acceptability, even in deceptive treatment contexts. This was the first study of its kind to show the value of an educational intervention in increasing openness to and knowledge of placebo analgesic interventions among patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this we article highlight how patients with chronic pain might be open to placebo interventions, particularly adjunct and/or complementary treatments, when provided education on the neurobiological and psychological mechanisms that underlie placebo effects. Study findings highlight ethically acceptable ways to potentially use placebo factors to enhance existing pain treatments and improve patient health outcomes.
authors.affiliation: James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Tampa, Florida; Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
authors.forename: Nkaku R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Kisaalita
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Hurley
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Staud
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. Electronic address: merobin@ufl.edu.
authors.forename: Michael E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Robinson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000698:Analgesia / Q000523:psychology*; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D059408:Pain Management / Q000379:methods*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D010919:Placebos / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011897:Random Allocation
chemical_list: D010919:Placebos
keywords: Placebo; education intervention; musculoskeletal pain; placebo acceptability; placebo analgesia