The DOI matches its Crossref record; 69 of the 69 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Development of the Stanford Expectations of Treatment Scale (SETS): A tool for measuring patient outcome expectancy in clinical trials
Abstract
Background: A patient’s response to treatment may be influenced by the expectations that the patient has before initiating treatment. In the context of clinical trials, the influence of participant expectancy may blur the distinction between real and sham treatments, reducing statistical power to detect specific treatment effects. There is therefore a need for a tool that prospectively predicts expectancy effects on treatment outcomes across a wide range of treatment modalities. Purpose: To help assess expectancy effects, we created the Stanford Expectations of Treatment Scale (SETS): an instrument for measuring positive and negative treatment expectancies. Internal reliability of the instrument was tested in Study 1. Criterion validity of the instrument (convergent, discriminant, and predictive) was assessed in Studies 2 and 3. Methods: The instrument was developed using 200 participants in Study 1. Reliability and validity assessments were made with an additional 423 participants in Studies 2 and 3. Results: The final six-item SETS contains two subscales: positive expectancy (α = 0.81–0.88) and negative expectancy (α = 0.81–0.86). The subscales predict a significant amount of outcome variance (between 12% and 18%) in patients receiving surgical and pain interventions. The SETS is simple to administer, score, and interpret. Conclusion: The SETS may be used in clinical trials to improve statistical sensitivity for detecting treatment differences or in clinical settings to identify patients with poor treatment expectancies.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Participants’ expectancy will be assessed with the Stanford Expectations of Treatment Scale (SETS; [114]) at baseline”
In the citing paper
“Secondary outcomes showed promising signs, although the openlabel design and small sample size means that the results must be interpreted in the context of treatment expectancy at baseline, in which positive effects were higher than average and negative effects were lower than average [41].”
From Psilocybin‐assisted psychotherapy for methamphetamine use disorder: A pilot open‐label safety and feasibility study. (2025) · cites this paper as [41]
In the citing paper
“Valid measures of response expectancies include the Stanford Expectations of Treatment Scale (SETS), 87 and the credibility/expectancy questionnaire (CEQ). 88”
From Best Practice Recommendations for Conducting and Reporting Controlled Trials in Clinical Hypnosis Research (2024) · cites this paper as [87]
Citations
Cites
The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale
Zigmond, A. S., & Snaith, R. P. (1983) · Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica · doi:10.1111/j.1600-0447.1983.tb09716.x · Cited by 47,139
Research in Organizational Behavior.
Grimes, A. J., Cummings, L. L., & Staw, B. M. (1986) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2392975 · Cited by 11,303
(1976) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 8,899
Scheier, M. F., Carver, C. S., & Bridges, M. W. (1994) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.67.6.1063 · Cited by 7,456
Farrar, J. T., Young, J. P., LaMoreaux, L., Werth, J. L., & Poole, M. R. (2001) · Pain · doi:10.1016/s0304-3959(01)00349-9 · Cited by 5,808
Core outcome measures for chronic pain clinical trials: IMMPACT recommendations
Dworkin, R. H., Turk, D. C., Farrar, J. T., Haythornthwaite, J. A., Jensen, M. P., Katz, N. P., Kerns, R. D., Stucki, G., Allen, R. R., Bellamy, N., et al. (2005) · Pain · doi:10.1016/j.pain.2004.09.012 · Cited by 3,732
Core outcome domains for chronic pain clinical trials: IMMPACT recommendations
Turk, D. C., Dworkin, R. H., Allen, R. R., Bellamy, N., Brandenburg, N., Carr, D. B., Cleeland, C., Dionne, R., Farrar, J. T., Galer, B. S., et al. (2003) · Pain · doi:10.1016/j.pain.2003.08.001 · Cited by 3,510
Psychometric properties of the credibility/expectancy questionnaire
Devilly, G. J., & Borkovec, T. D. (2000) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0005-7916(00)00012-4 · Cited by 2,295 · cited 1×
“While the instrument has shown success in predicting some outcome variables [33], it is not clear that the instrument (particularly the credibility subscale) is a useful tool for predicting treatment response [34].”
MethodECDEU Assessment Manual: (591322011-001)
Guy, W. (1976) · PsycEXTRA Dataset · doi:10.1037/e591322011-001 · Cited by 1,896
Credibility of analogue therapy rationales
Borkovec, T. D., & Nau, S. D. (1972) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/0005-7916(72)90045-6 · Cited by 1,553 · cited 1×
“An exception is the Credibility and Expectancy Scale, which was developed in 1972 by Borkovec and Nau [32].”
Scheier, M. F., Matthews, K. A., Owens, J. F., Magovern, G. J., Lefebvre, R. C., Abbott, R. A., & Carver, C. S. (1989) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.57.6.1024 · Cited by 1,023
Response expectancy as a determinant of experience and behavior.
Kirsch, I. (1985) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.40.11.1189 · Cited by 1,014
Nonspecific medication side effects and the nocebo phenomenon
Barsky, A. J. (2002) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.287.5.622 · Cited by 784
The Placebo Effect: Dissolving the Expectancy Versus Conditioning Debate.
Stewart‐Williams, S., & Podd, J. (2004) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.130.2.324 · Cited by 686
How expectancies shape experience.
(1999) · doi:10.1037/10332-000 · Cited by 639 · cited 1×
“Response expectancy theory posits that what people experience is strongly shaped by what they expect to experience [2,58].”
BackgroundPrice, D. D., Milling, L. S., Kirsch, I., Duff, A., Montgomery, G. H., & Nicholls, S. S. (1999) · Pain · doi:10.1016/s0304-3959(99)00081-0 · Cited by 569
Linde, K., Witt, C. M., Streng, A., Weidenhammer, W., Wagenpfeil, S., Brinkhaus, B., Willich, S. N., & Melchart, D. (2007) · Pain · doi:10.1016/j.pain.2006.12.006 · Cited by 558
Getting the pain you expect: mechanisms of placebo, nocebo and reappraisal effects in humans
Tracey, I. (2010) · Nature Medicine · doi:10.1038/nm.2229 · Cited by 553
Capturing the patient's view of change as a clinical outcome measure.
Fischer, D., Stewart, A., Bloch, D., Lorig, K., Laurent, D. D., & Holman, H. (1999) · Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) · doi:10.1001/jama.282.12.1157 · Cited by 501
The Nocebo Effect and Its Relevance for Clinical Practice
Colloca, L., & Miller, F. G. (2011) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/psy.0b013e3182294a50 · Cited by 454
Response expectancies in placebo analgesia and their clinical relevance
Pollo, A., Amanzio, M., Arslanian, A., Casadio, C., Maggi, G., & Benedetti, F. (2001) · Pain · doi:10.1016/s0304-3959(01)00296-2 · Cited by 442
McRae, C., Cherin, E. A., Yamazaki, T. G., Diem, G., Vo, A. H., Russell, D. W., Ellgring, J. H., Fahn, S., Greene, P. E., Dillon, S., et al. (2004) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.61.4.412 · Cited by 278
Iverson, S. A., Howard, K., & Penney, B. K. (2008) · PubMed · Cited by 274
A systematic review of adverse events in placebo groups of anti-migraine clinical trials
Amanzio, M., Corazzini, L. L., Vase, L., & Benedetti, F. (2009) · Pain · doi:10.1016/j.pain.2009.07.010 · Cited by 232
Predictors of Response to Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy for Social Phobia
Chambless, D. L., Tran, G. Q., & Glass, C. R. (1997) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/s0887-6185(97)00008-x · Cited by 228
Scales for assessing perceptions of health hazard susceptibility
Diefenbach, M. A., Weinstein, N. D., & O'Reilly, J. M. (1993) · Health Education Research · doi:10.1093/her/8.2.181 · Cited by 227
Nocebo-Induced Hyperalgesia During Local Anesthetic Injection
Varelmann, D. J., Pancaro, C., Cappiello, E. C., & Camann, W. (2010) · Anesthesia & Analgesia · doi:10.1213/ane.0b013e3181cc5727 · Cited by 227
Sullivan, M. J. L., Tänzer, M., Reardon, G., Amirault, D., Dunbar, M., & Stanish, W. D. (2011) · Pain · doi:10.1016/j.pain.2011.06.014 · Cited by 217
Anticipatory nausea and vomiting
Aapro, M., Molassiotis, A., & Olver, I. (2004) · Supportive Care in Cancer · doi:10.1007/s00520-004-0745-8 · Cited by 215
Treatment Expectancy Affects the Outcome of Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions in Chronic Pain
Goossens, M. E. J. B., Vlaeyen, J. W. S., Hidding, A., Kole-Snijders, A., & Evers, S. M. A. A. (2005) · The Clinical Journal of Pain · doi:10.1097/00002508-200501000-00003 · Cited by 213
Dispositional Optimism Predicts Placebo Analgesia
Geers, A. L., Wellman, J. A., Fowler, S. L., Helfer, S. G., & France, C. R. (2010) · Journal of Pain · doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2010.02.014 · Cited by 194
Reproducibility of placebo analgesia: Effect of dispositional optimism
Morton, D. L., Watson, A., El-Deredy, W., & Jones, A. K. P. (2009) · Pain · doi:10.1016/j.pain.2009.07.026 · Cited by 190
Induction of nocebo and placebo effects on itch and pain by verbal suggestions
van Laarhoven, A. I. M., Vogelaar, M. L., Wilder‐Smith, O. H. G., van Riel, P. L. C. M., van de Kerkhof, P. C. M., Kraaimaat, F. W., & Evers, A. W. M. (2011) · Pain · doi:10.1016/j.pain.2011.01.043 · Cited by 180
Expectations for Recovery Important in the Prognosis of Whiplash Injuries
Holm, L. W., Carroll, L., Cassidy, J. D., Skillgate, E., & Ahlbom, A. (2008) · PLoS Medicine · doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0050105 · Cited by 157
Efficacy of antidepressants: a re-analysis and re-interpretation of the Kirsch data
Fountoulakis, K. Ν., & Möller, H. (2010) · The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1017/s1461145710000957 · Cited by 143
de la Cruz, M., Hui, D., Parsons, H. A., & Bruera, E. D. (2009) · Cancer · doi:10.1002/cncr.24751 · Cited by 127
Häuser, W., Bartram-Wunn, E., Bartram, C., Reinecke, H., & Tölle, T. R. (2011) · Pain · doi:10.1016/j.pain.2011.01.050 · Cited by 125
Harnessing the placebo effect: the need for translational research
Colloca, L., & Miller, F. G. (2011) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2010.0399 · Cited by 125
Colagiuri, B. (2010) · Clinical Trials · doi:10.1177/1740774510367916 · Cited by 118
Conditioning, Expectancy, and the Placebo Effect: Comment on Stewart-Williams and Podd (2004).
Kirsch, I. (2004) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.130.2.341 · Cited by 111
Lewin, A. B., Peris, T. S., Bergman, R. L., McCracken, J. T., & Piacentini, J. C. (2011) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2011.06.001 · Cited by 111
Enserink, M. (1999) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.284.5412.238 · Cited by 108
A meta-analytic approach to estimating nocebo effects in neuropathic pain trials
Papadopoulos, D., & Mitsikostas, D. D. (2011) · Journal of Neurology · doi:10.1007/s00415-011-6197-4 · Cited by 98
Patient expectation is a strong predictor of severe nausea after chemotherapy
Roscoe, J., Bushunow, P., Morrow, G. R., Hickok, J. T., Kuebler, P., Jacobs, A., & Banerjee, T. (2004) · Cancer · doi:10.1002/cncr.20718 · Cited by 91
Expectancy effect: Impact of pill administration on cognitive performance in healthy seniors
Oken, B., Flegal, K. E., Zajdel, D. P., Kishiyama, S. S., Haas, M., & Peters, D. (2007) · Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology · doi:10.1080/13803390701775428 · Cited by 89
Chen, Y., Yang, Y., Hung, H., & Wang, S. (2011) · Contemporary Clinical Trials · doi:10.1016/j.cct.2011.04.006 · Cited by 84
Prediction of post‐operative pain after a laparoscopic tubal ligation procedure
Rudin, A. Y., Wölner‐Hanssen, P., Hellbom, M., & Werner, M. U. (2008) · Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica · doi:10.1111/j.1399-6576.2008.01641.x · Cited by 76
Montgomery, G. H., Tomoyasu, N., Bovbjerg, D. H., Andrykowski, M. A., Currie, V. E., Jacobsen, P. B., & Redd, W. H. (1998) · Annals of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/bf02884456 · Cited by 65
Uncovering the expectancy effect: the validation of the acupuncture expectancy scale.
Mao, J. J. J., Xie, S. X., & Bowman, M. A. (2010) · PubMed · Cited by 64
The toxic placebo. I. Side and toxic effects reported during the administration of placebo medicine.
Rc, P. (1963) · PubMed · Cited by 63
Optimality, sample size, and power calculations for the sequential parallel comparison design
Ivanova, A., Qaqish, B. F., & Schoenfeld, D. (2011) · Statistics in Medicine · doi:10.1002/sim.4292 · Cited by 61
Hyland, M. E., & Whalley, B. (2008) · Journal of Psychosomatic Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2008.02.006 · Cited by 59
Combined anxiety and depressive symptoms before diagnosis of breast cancer
Esch, L. V., Roukema, J. A., Ernst, M. F., Nieuwenhuijzen, G. A. P., & Vries, J. D. (2011) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2011.09.012 · Cited by 59
Participant Expectancies in Psychotherapy
Goldstein, A. P. (1962) · Psychiatry · doi:10.1080/00332747.1962.11023298 · Cited by 58
Psychological factors predicting nausea and vomiting in breast cancer patients on chemotherapy
Watson, M., Meyer, L., Thomson, A., & Osofsky, S. (1998) · European Journal of Cancer · doi:10.1016/s0959-8049(97)10146-0 · Cited by 57
Specific response expectancies predict anticipatory nausea during chemotherapy for breast cancer.
Montgomery, G. H., & Bovbjerg, D. H. (2001) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-006x.69.5.831 · Cited by 43
An Exploratory Study on the Effects of an Expectancy Manipulation on Chemotherapy-Related Nausea
Roscoe, J. A., O‘Neill, M. F., Jean‐Pierre, P., Heckler, C. E., Kaptchuk, T. J., Bushunow, P. W., Shayne, M., Huston, A. J., Qazi, R., & Smith, B. D. (2010) · Journal of Pain and Symptom Management · doi:10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2009.12.024 · Cited by 42
Webb, M. S., Hendricks, P. S., & Brandon, T. H. (2007) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/0278-6133.26.5.598 · Cited by 42
The Internet and primary care physicians: coping with different expectations
van Woerkum, C. M. J. (2003) · American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1093/ajcn/77.4.1016s · Cited by 36
Assessment of Beliefs in the Effectiveness of Acupuncture for Treatment of Psychiatric Symptoms
Dennehy, E. B., Webb, A. J., & Suppes, T. M. (2002) · The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine · doi:10.1089/107555302760253612 · Cited by 35
Specific response expectancies predict anticipatory nausea during chemotherapy for breast cancer.
Montgomery, G. H., & Bovbjerg, D. H. (2001) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.69.5.831 · Cited by 31
Nonspecific mechanisms that enhance well-being in health-promoting behaviors
Gaitan-Sierra, C., & Hyland, M. E. (2011) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0025582 · Cited by 25
Understanding the Placebo Effect: Part 2: Underlying Psychological & Neurobiological Processes
Howland, R. H. (2008) · Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services · doi:10.3928/02793695-20080601-05 · Cited by 20
Do we Need a New Procedure for the Assessment of Adverse Events in Anti-migraine Clinical Trials?
Amanzio, M. (2010) · Recent Patents on CNS Drug Discovery · doi:10.2174/157488911794079109 · Cited by 16
Assessment of the Quality of Postherpetic Neuralgia Treatment Information on the Internet
Hallingbye, T., & Serafini, M. (2011) · Journal of Pain · doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2011.05.005 · Cited by 15
Trait Anxiety Predicts Outcome 6 Weeks After Cholecystectomy. A Prospective Follow-Up Study
Mertens, M. C., Roukema, J. A., Scholtes, V. P. W., & Vries, J. D. (2010) · Annals of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s12160-010-9245-x · Cited by 10
Grotle, M. (2011) · Journal of physiotherapy · doi:10.1016/s1836-9553(11)70009-1 · Cited by 10
A new perspective on “the placebo effect”: Untangling the entanglement
Manek, N. J., & Tiller, W. A. (2011) · Medical Hypotheses · doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2011.06.047 · Cited by 6
The relation between motivational concordance and response expectancy
Kelley, J. M. (2008) · Journal of Psychosomatic Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2008.05.001 · Cited by 2
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 6
- Manchikanti L, 2011, Pain Physician, 14, E157
- Pogge RC, 1963, Med Times, 91, 773
- Mao J, 2010, Altern Ther Health Med, 16, 22
- 10.1037/0022-3514.57.6.1024 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1037/0022-3514.67.6.1063 · DOI · Paper page
- Iverson S, 2008, J Am Osteopath Assoc, 108, 699
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Patient phenotyping in clinical trials of chronic pain treatments: IMMPACT recommendations
Edwards, R. R., Dworkin, R. H., Turk, D. C., Angst, M. S., Dionne, R., Freeman, R., Hansson, P., Haroutounian, S., Arendt-Nielsen, L., Attal, N., et al. (2016) · Pain · doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000000602 · Cited by 403
Blinding and expectancy confounds in psychedelic randomized controlled trials
Muthukumaraswamy, S. D., Forsyth, A., & Lumley, T. (2021) · Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology · doi:10.1080/17512433.2021.1933434 · Cited by 324
Rossettini, G., Carlino, E., & Testa, M. (2018) · BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders · doi:10.1186/s12891-018-1943-8 · Cited by 337
“expectancy and negative expectancy), predicted a significant amount of outcome variance in patients receiving surgical and pain intervention [175].”
BackgroundAday, J. S., Heifets, B. D., Pratscher, S. D., Bradley, E., Rosen, R., & Woolley, J. D. (2022) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-022-06123-7 · Cited by 237
“2021) recommend the use of established measures of expectancy, such as the Stanford Expectations of Treatment Scale (Younger et al. 2012), which is a valid and reliable measure of participants’ positive and negative treatment expectancies.”
Darnall, B. D., Roy, A., Chen, A. L., Ziadni, M. S., Keane, R. T., You, D. S., Slater, K., Poupore-King, H., Mackey, I., Kao, M.-C., et al. (2021) · JAMA Network Open · doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.13401 · Cited by 191
Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Younger, J., Gandhi, V., Hubbard, E., & Mackey, S.
- Affiliations
- Stanford Medicine (US)
- Venue
- Clinical Trials
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2012-11-20
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 767-776
- ISSN
- 1740-7745 (ISSN-L)
- 1740-7753
- OpenAlex
- W2020646491
- Cited by
- 212
- References
- 69
- Citations by year
- 2026: 27 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 0.98
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Clinical Trials (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- School of Medicine, Stanford University
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Pain Management and Placebo Effect
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Keywords
- treatment expectancy, patient expectations, placebo effect, expectancy effects, scale development, psychometric validation, surgical treatment, pain interventions, statistical power
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Attitude to Health, Clinical Trials as Topic, Data Interpretation, Statistical, Factor Analysis, Statistical, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Predictive Value of Tests, Psychometrics, Surveys and Questionnaires, Research Design, Reproducibility of Results, Placebo Effect, Research Subjects
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
