Figure 1: Schematic illustration of the module’s sequence (German version).
Self-guided component (“Selbstlerneinheit”): Working in small groups at first, the students individually prepare a written assignment to familiarize themselves with expectancy effects in medicine. After this, the students create a conversational situation involving a physician, patient and a family member that covers all of the relevant aspects, including the initial greeting and saying good-bye, and which is then enacted by the students and video-recorded. During the subsequent classroom-based session (“Präsenztermin”), in which two small groups meet, the two videos serve as a way into a lively discussion about the role of doctor-patient communication in the context of expectancy effects. A lecture on the scientific evidence regarding placebo and nocebo effects and their underlying mechanisms concludes the course module.