Abstract
Background: Previous research has indicated that the sex, status, and nonverbal behaviors of experimenters or clinicians can contribute to reported pain, and placebo and nocebo effects in patients or research participants. However, no systematic review has been published. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of experimenter/clinician characteristics and nonverbal behavior on pain, placebo, and nocebo effects. Methods: Using EmBase, Web of Knowledge, and PubMed databases, several literature searches were conducted to find studies that investigated the effects of the experimenter’s/clinician’s sex, status, and nonverbal behaviors on pain, placebo, and nocebo effects. Results: Thirty-four studies were included, 20 on the effects of characteristics of the experimenter/clinician, 11 on the role of nonverbal behaviors, and 3 on the effects of both nonverbal behaviors and characteristics of experimenters/clinicians on pain and placebo/nocebo effects. There was a tendency for experimenters/clinicians to induce lower pain report in participants of the opposite sex. Furthermore, higher confidence, competence, and professionalism of experimenters/clinicians resulted in lower pain report and higher placebo effects, whereas lower status of experimenters/clinicians such as lower confidence, competence, and professionalism generated higher reported pain and lower placebo effects. Positive nonverbal behaviors (e.g., smiling, strong tone of voice, more eye contact, more leaning toward the patient/participant, and more body gestures) contributed to lower reported pain and higher placebo effects, whereas negative nonverbal behaviors (i.e., no smile, monotonous tone of voice, no eye contact, leaning backward from the participant/patient, and no body gestures) contributed to higher reported pain and nocebo effects. Conclusion: Characteristics and nonverbal behaviors of experimenters/clinicians contribute to the elicitation and modulation of pain, placebo, and nocebo effects.
Highlights
The present qualitative review investigated whether the characteristics or nonverbal behavior (NB) of the person administrating painful stimulation affected pain or placebo/ nocebo effects in the research participant
Experimenter/Clinician Sex and the Participants’ Pain A total of 15 studies investigated whether the sex of the experimenter/clinician affected the pain report of research participants: Six studies showed a main effect of experimenter sex: three studies showed that male experimenters induced lower pain intensities than females did (22, 59, 60), and Sorge et al (61) showed that male experimenters induced less pain behaviors and more pain inhibition in rodents
Uncontrolled NBs of experimenters/clinicians may partially account for such diversity in findings. This qualitative review documented the contribution of experimenters/clinicians’ sex, status, and NBs, as three factors capable of altering the perception of pain, and amplitude of placebo/nocebo effects and responses
Summary
The present qualitative review investigated whether the characteristics or nonverbal behavior (NB) of the person administrating painful stimulation affected pain or placebo/ nocebo effects in the research participant. Treatments, whether active or sham, are administered in a compound of situational elements such as medication features (e.g., color of a tablet), the healthcare setting (hospital or clinic layout), and the characteristics and behavior of the experimenter/clinician. Such subtle cues in the environment (7, 15, 16) can affect the treatment outcome. Previous research has indicated that the sex, status, and nonverbal behaviors of experimenters or clinicians can contribute to reported pain, and placebo and nocebo effects in patients or research participants.
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