ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT06307912Updated Mar 13, 2024

Physiotherapists' Placebo or Nocebo Communication Regarding VR

An interventional study of Video placebo communication and Video nocebo communication in Communication, sponsored by HAN University of Applied Sciences. Completed at 1 site in Netherlands. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-03-13.

Sponsored by HAN University of Applied Sciences · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 3 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Nov 2023, registered Feb 2024).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
126
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Rationale: Chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) is a common and disabling condition. Physiotherapy is the most frequently administered nonpharmacological treatment option for patients with CMP and recently virtual reality (VR) was introduced in physiotherapy care as a novel treatment modality. Proper communication about physiotherapy treatment (modalities) is important to improve treatment outcomes, by applying placebo effects enhancing communication and avoiding nocebo effects enhancing communication. However, yet is still unknown to what extent this applies to communication of physiotherapists about VR in healthy participants.

Objective: To determine the effect of physiotherapists' placebo or nocebo therapeutic communication about VR, on treatment credibility and expectation in healthy participants.

Study design: Web-based randomized controlled trial.

Study population: 126 participants

Intervention: The placebo intervention group will be shown an educational video about VR, containing placebo effects enhancing verbal language. The nocebo intervention group will be shown an educational video about VR, containing nocebo effects enhancing verbal language.

Primary study parameters: The primary study parameters are treatment credibility and treatment expectation. Treatment credibility and treatment expectations will be measured using the Dutch credibility and expectancy questionnaire (CEQ).

02

Conditions studied

  • Communication

Browse trials for

03

In context

Communication

719 studies on the registry are indexed under Communication; 159 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 126 is below the median of 144 across 571 interventional studies indexed under Communication.

Browse Communication studies →

Lead sponsor

HAN University of Applied Sciences is the lead sponsor of 7 studies on the registry; 2 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • aged ≥ 18
  • access to the internet
  • provide

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • lacked comprehension of the Dutch language
  • had experience with therapeutic VR
  • suffers from CMP
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Triple (Participant, Investigator, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
126 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Placebo comparator
    Placebo group

    The placebo intervention group will be shown an online educational VR video.

    Other: Video placebo communication

  • Experimental
    Nocebo group

    The nocebo intervention group will be shown an online educational VR video.

    Other: Video nocebo communication

Interventions

  • OtherVideo placebo communication

    The placebo communication video comprises of an educational VR video containing placebo enhancing verbal language.

  • OtherVideo nocebo communication

    The nocebo communication video comprises of an educational VR video containing nocebo enhancing verbal language.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in treatment expectancy measured using the Credibility and Expectancy Questionnaire (CEQ)

    This questionnaire on treatment expectancy scores from 6 (lowest expectancy) to 54 (highest expectancy)

    Time frame: Baseline and immediately after the intervention

  2. Change in treatment credibility measured using the Credibility and Expectancy Questionnaire (CEQ)

    This questionnaire on treatment credibility scores from 5 (lowest credibility) to 45 (highest credibility)

    Time frame: Baseline and immediately after the intervention

Secondary outcomes

  1. Change in openness to VR measured using a single question

    The question "would you be open to treatment with therapeutic VR" was scored with a yes/no

    Time frame: Baseline and immediately after the intervention

07

Study locations

1 site
  • HAN University of Applied Sciences
    Nijmegen, Overijssel 6525EN, Netherlands
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No — Not planned to share IPD

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Nov 2023 to primary completion in Dec 2023, 1 month.

Of 390 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Communication, half reached primary completion within 18 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 6 and three quarters within 36. This study's 1 month is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 394 studies reached it within 18 months; a quarter within 6 and three quarters within 36.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Feb 21, 2024
First posted
Mar 13, 2024
StartActual
Nov 1, 2023
Primary completionActual
Dec 1, 2023
CompletionActual
Dec 1, 2023
Last update
Mar 13, 2024
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Mar 13, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06307912
Lead sponsor
HAN University of Applied Sciences
Responsible party
Bart Staal (Professor (lector), HAN University of Applied Sciences) — Principal investigator
First posted
Mar 13, 2024
Start date
Nov 1, 2023
Primary completion
Dec 1, 2023
Completion
Dec 1, 2023
Last update
Mar 13, 2024

Study contacts

Bart Staal, PhD
principal investigator · HAN University of Applied Sciences

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Mar 2024. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion